PREMIERSHIPS

In an attempt to improve the Club's existing website in 1999, it was discovered that the Club's holdings of historical photographs and other memorabilia were not properly stored or catalogued. To address this issue, it was suggested that the Club set up a committee to undertake this work. The Board approved the establishment of a History Committee in April 2000 and its inaugural meeting was held on 31 May 2000. The role of the Committee was laid out at this time - interestingly, it has subsequently been reviewed and has changed very little.

HISTORY COMMITTEE ROLE

In accordance with the Club’s direction and correct lines of responsibility:

• Catalogue and store appropriately all historical material held by the Club.

• Develop standards for resolving the authenticity of historical records.

• Investigate and resolve particular questions which the Board may refer to it.

• Record the history of the Club faithfully and accurately.

• Advise the Club on storage and maintenance of its historical records.

• Provide advice on displaying photos and memorabilia.

• Plan and develop suitable displays of the Club’s history.

• Where appropriate, seek funding to facilitate establishment of displays.

• Assist with the preparation of historical material for publication (eg on the Website, in special publications etc).

• Assist with planning and conducting events celebrating our history.

• Manage the past player database and assist with planning and conducting events for past players.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The main difficulty in those embryonic days was to work out what to tackle first. But priorities were developed and slowly things began to take shape. As the work of the Committee became better known more members joined and progress accelerated.

The major achievements of the Committee to date have been:

•Establishing a database to record details of the Club's memorabilia collection and then cataloguing and storing all memorabilia to archival standards

•Scanning the Club's photographic collection to archival standards

•Producing books:
North Adelaide's Greatest (about our Team of the Century)
An Unshakable Will to Win (the story of the 1949 premiership year)
North's Record-Making Year (the story of the 1952 premiership year)
Never Say Die (the story of the 1960 premiership year)
Two Glorious Years (the story of the 1971 and 1972 premiership years)
Power, Guts and Glory (the story of the 1987 premiership year)

• Organising functions to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our 1905 premiership, the 60th anniversary of our 1949 premiership, the 50th and 60th anniversaries of our 1952 premiership, the 45th and 50th anniversaries of our 1960 premiership, the 40th anniversary of our 1971/72 premierships and the 20th anniversary of our 1987 premiership

•Organising a function in 2013 to celebrate our Magarey Medallists, featuring displays of their medals, audio-visual tributes to each Medallist and interviews with Medallists/relatives.

•Establishing the Legends Room at the Club (featuring displays of all of our premierships, photographic tributes to Robran and Farmer, the Magarey Medal bar, Honour Boards and a datashow of images of the Club's history)

•Producing and installing an explanatory plaque next to the Reedman Memorial near Adelaide Oval

•Completing and displaying membership badges throughout our history

•Researching, documenting and displaying jumper designs used by the Club

•Recording interviews with past players and officials

CURRENT AND FUTURE WORK

As well as the ongoing collection, cataloguing and storing of memorabilia, the Committee has the following goals for the next few years:

• Completion of a Games and Players database, recording details of every match played by the Club and every player who has represented the Club

• Establishing suitable archiving procedures for preserving all film of SA football

• Collecting video of all matches involving North Adelaide

• Preparing a comprehensive history of the Club for publication

• Establishment of a NAFC Hall of Fame

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

The current members of the Committee are listed below with their main areas of responsibility to provide a guide to the kind of work in which each person is involved. There are, however, many areas in which several members contribute to the outcome.

To contact the History Committee, email NAFC. History2@nafc.com.au

Barry Dolman
Chairman of the Committee
Manages the NAFC Past Players and Officials Association
Co-ordinates the tracing of past players
Co-ordinates the preparation of a comprehensive publication detailing the Club's history
Negotiates archiving of film related to NAFC

Bob Richards
Assists with preparation for a comprehensive publication detailing the Club's history
Assists with Past Player functions

Bruce Pointon
Videos History Committee Functions
Assists with preparation for a comprehensive publication detailing the Club's history

Nick Haines
Organises order of priority lists for the NAFC, SA and Australian Halls of Fame
Assists with preparation for a comprehensive publication detailing the Club's history

Alison Galloway

Addition of Photos to Player Database

Associate Members

Colin Richardson
Assists with cataloguing memorabilia held by the Club

Julie Vranek
Manages displays in the Hall
Assists with cataloguing memorabilia held by the Club.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CLUB

North Adelaide’s history can be traced directly back to the formation of the Medindie Football Club. Medindie was formed in 1881 when a group of nearby College students (from Prince Alfred College and the now defunct Whinham College) formed a team to play some football matches in the nearby parklands. They took their colours of red and white from Prince Alfred College and wore a strip not dissimilar to the one that Prince’s football team wore.

Medindie was elevated to the South Australian Football Association (later to become the SANFL) in 1888. After struggling to match it with the “senior” teams (South, Port and Norwood) over the next 5 years, and with a promise of support from North Adelaide residents, the Club changed its name to North Adelaide in 1893.

Although there were numerous other clubs that used the name of "North Adelaide" prior to 1893, none of them bore ties to the current club.

1881

The Medindie Football Club is formed by a group of nearby college students from Prince Alfred College and Whinham College.

1888

Medindie is admitted to the South Australian Football Association.

1893

With a promise of support from North Adelaide residents, the Club changed its name to North Adelaide Football Club.

1900

Led by the great Australian fast-bowler, Ernie Jones, and wearing its eye-catching, diagonally-striped, red & white lace-up jackets, North Adelaide won its first premiership. Other stars in this historic team were Jack (Dinnie) Reedman, Norman Claxton & the Pash brothers, Harold & Norman.

1901

North Adelaide produced its first Magarey Medallist in teenager, Philip (Phil) Sandland.

1902

North Adelaide won its second premiership. Captained by the champion, all-round sportsman Jack (Dinnie) Reedman, North played and comfortably defeated South Adelaide in the Grand Final after a sensational disqualification of Port Adelaide had occurred prior to a Port vs South final (when Port refused to play their match under the appointed umpire).

1903

1905

North Adelaide won its third premiership by emphatically beating Port Adelaide 6.8 to 1.6 - a 32-point drubbing. Captain of the side was again Jack Reedman. Port kicked its only goal for the match in the first quarter and was then kept goal-less for the last three quarters. Port Adelaide's 1.6 gave it the dubious distinction of having kicked the lowest ever score in a Grand Final. Tom McKenzie of North Adelaide won his second Magarey Medal - having previously won it in 1902 when playing for West Torrens. (Bos) Daly of North was equal top goal-kicker (with Mathieson of Port) for the season with 30 goals. North thus achieved the rare distinction of a Premiership, the Magarey Medallist and the top goal-kicker in the one season - an achievement it repeated in 1987.

1906

Tom McKenzie won his third Magarey Medal - the first of an elite group of triple medallists: Dan Moriarty, Len Fitzgerald, Lindsay Head, Barrie Robran and Russell Ebert (4) and James Allan being the others.

1913

Tom Leahy, the 'Prince of Ruckmen' won the 1913 Magarey Medal. He had been runner-up on three previous occasions - 1908, 1909 and 1911.

1919

North drew the final against Torrens but won the replay by 5 points. Under the rules of the day Sturt, as Minor Premiers, had the right to challenge the winner of the Final (North) if it didn't win the Final itself. In the Challenge Final, North drew with Sturt, 5.9 apiece but the replay saw Sturt victorious by 5 points.

1920

After a period of fifteen years and having gone agonisingly close to the premiership in 1919, North won its fourth title. In an era of consistently low scores (by modern comparison), North had twenty-four scoring shots in its 48-point thrashing of Norwood, 9.15 to 3.3. Captained by the venerable Tom Leahy, this season was the first one in which North had a coach - Alby Klose.

1922

The 1922 season was the first in which North Adelaide played its home matches at Prospect Oval. In a season in which it won only six of its fourteen games, North won the first game it played at Prospect (Round 1, 6 May) by defeating Glenelg 12-11 to 9-4.

Plans had been drawn up in 1919 by Prospect Council and during 1921, the NAFC signed a five-year agreement with the Council to use the oval for its home games.

1930

Coached by club stalwart and former star player Percy Lewis and captained by Jim McDowall, North Adelaide won fourteen of its seventeen games and finished Minor Premiers. In the semi-finals, Port defeated Norwood and Sturt, surprisingly, beat North (without prominent forward Ken Farmer). The Final resulted in a comfortable victory to Port Adelaide. However, in the Challenge Final, the best team of the season, North, won its fifth premiership by narrowly accounting for Port Adelaide 9.13 to 9.9. Farmer finished with 105 goals for the season, the first player to kick 100 goals in a league season. This was the last year in which the challenge system was used.

1931

North Adelaide, third on the premiership table at the end of the minor round, won 'Back-to-back' premierships by successively defeating Norwood in the 1st Semi-final by 31 pts, Port in the (Preliminary) Final by 55 pts and Sturt in the Grand Final by 38 pts under the new Page System of playing finals. Coached by the great Percy Lewis, captained by champion Percy Furler (playing his 150th game) and with Farmer kicking six goals to bring his season tally to 126 (and a new Australian record), North proved beyond any doubt to be again the outstanding side.

1932

North finished Minor Premiers but lost the Grand Final to Sturt. Farmer kicked 102 goals.

1937

Harold (Dribbler) Hawke was awarded the Magarey Medal.

1939

Jeff Pash became another Magarey Medallist from North Adelaide (its sixth medal, from five players).

1940

For the eleventh season in a row, Ken Farmer, the greatest full-forward the game has seen, kicked in excess of 100 goals in a season. In 224 games over 13 seasons he averaged 6.33 goals per game.

1948

Centre-half back, Ronald (Ron) Phillips won the Magarey Medal and NAFC's Best and Fairest.

1949

15 seasons after its last premiership, North won its seventh premiership by defeating West Torrens 13.17 to 9.18. It was the first time (in three meetings) that North had beaten Torrens for the season and ended an 11-game winning sequence by that club against North. Coach Ken Farmer achieved the ultimate success - a premiership in his first year. Ron Phillips won his second Magarey Medal and NAFC Best & Fairest - this time at centre-half forward.

1950

The Magarey Medal was won by Club Captain Ian McKay - the first full back to achieve this honour - the ninth Magarey Medal to have been awarded to North Adelaide players.

1952

North won its eighth premiership by 'slaughtering' Norwood - 23.15 to 6.9. The margin of 108 points persisted as a record for fifty-two years. Eleven of North's team scored goals in a veritable 'feast' in which it kicked eight goals in the second quarter, eleven goals to Norwood's three in the first half and twelve goals to three in the last half. The match was made especially memorable by Captain Ian McKay's world-famous mark in the last quarter (when he put himself briefly into ruck from full back) followed by a 60 yard (55 metre) screw-punt goal. In his four years as league coach, Ken Farmer took North to two premierships and a runner-up.

1955

Ian McKay, North's longest serving captain (eight seasons), retired at the end of this season after 164 games in 10 years.

1960

North won its ninth premiership by defeating Norwood in a thrilling match with the scores close throughout - the margins at each break in favour of North were 9 pts, 7 pts, 4 pts and 5 pts. The final scores were 14.11 to 13.12. Rover Barry Potts kicked seven goals. Jack McCarthy and Don Gilbourne were in their first seasons as coach and captain, respectively. For Gilbourne, it was his third pennant. Barrie Barbary became the Club's eighth winner of the Magarey Medal for a club total of ten medals.

1963

Outstanding centre-half forward, Don Lindner, had the first of his four years as captain-coach (achieving runner-up status for North in his first season) followed by three more years as captain under ex-Port star Geof Motley as coach.

1967

Don Lindner tied with Trevor Obst (PA) for the 1967 Magarey Medal but lost on a count-back. This anomalous policy was rectified in 1998 and Lindner rightfully received his Medal, retrospectively. In an unusual parallel, Barrie Robran tied with Don Lindner for the 1967 NAFC Best and Fairest Award but lost on a count-back. The Club altered its policy in 2003 and Robran received his Medal. Lindner in action Robran flies high.

1968

Barrie Robran (the state's greatest-ever player and one of the best in Australia) won the first of his three Magarey Medals - the ninth North Adelaide player to do so. The nickname 'Roosters' increasingly usurped the previously used 'Red n Whites' or 'Cock o' the North'.

1970

Michael Patterson, ex-Richmond star, had the first of eight seasons as league coach (the first three as captain-coach). Barrie Robran earned his second Magarey Medal.

1971

With Mike Patterson in his second year as coach and Barrie Robran excelling, North achieved its tenth SANFL premiership with a convincing victory over Port Adelaide in the Grand Final. Most remarkably, Port was kept goalless in the first half and the final scores 10.19 to 9.5 do not adequately reflect North's dominance for 85% of the day (more adequately demonstrated by having 29 scoring shots to 14; Port had a seven-goal burst late in the final quarter). North Adelaide acquitted themselves very well in the Champions of Australia match against VFL Premiers, Hawthorn, losing narrowly.

1972

In winning its 11th SANFL Premiership, North achieved 'back-to-back' premierships for the second time in its history - the other being 1930-31. After beating Port by 21 pts in the Second Semi-final, they gave the Magpies a real hiding in the Grand Final, 19.14 to 10.12 - a margin of 56 points. With the mercurial Robran displaying all his wizardry and Dennis Sachse kicking six goals, North dominated all over the ground, kicking 14.8 to 4.4 in the last half. This 'Flag' was acting-captain Bob Hammond's third - 1960, 1971 & 1972.

North's great form continued throughout the following week in the competition between the premier sides of three of the four states - North Adelaide (SA), City-South (Tas), Carlton (Vic) - with East Fremantle (WA) the fourth team in the competition. After achieving its greatest ever accomplishment by defeating Carlton in a thrilling Championship Final at Adelaide Oval, North Adelaide was crowned 'Champions of Australia'.

1973

In a heart-breaking finish to one of the best Grand Finals ever, North just lost to Glenelg in the last Grand Final to be played at the beautiful Adelaide Oval. Barrie Robran was again the SANFL's 'Fairest and Most Brilliant' Player for the season and awarded his third Magarey Medal (the Club's thirteenth). It was also Robran's seventh successive year as the Club's Best & Fairest player (although the 1967 award, when he tied with Don Lindner and lost on a count-back, has been made retrospectively). Dennis Sachse became the second North player to kick in excess of 100 goals in a season.

1974

On 4th May, North had the honour, along with Central Districts, of playing the first match at Football Park - the new headquarters of football in SA. Barrie Robran was appointed Captain of the SA state side and, in his second match, playing against 'the Vics' on the Sydney Cricket Ground, suffered a career-altering knee injury following a wilful and avoidable charge by Victorian rover Leigh Matthews.

1978

With great optimism, NAFC appointed Barrie Robran as coach, only to finish bottom of the competition - the first time since 1912.

1980

Despite the team not reaching any great heights on the premiership table, the North players responded to a Port Adelaide 122-point thrashing to create a significant victory against Sturt in Round 10 by 50 points The victory was even sweeter as it was Barrie Robran's 200th Official game. It was a stirring match filled with emotion as the whole side played above themselves for their great captain.

1981

Michael Nunan became coach and instituted radical reforms throughout the Club but without achieving significant on-field success until his 5th - 7th seasons - 2nd, 2nd and top, respectively, after having finished Minor Premiers each year. Nunan was coach for twelve successive seasons.

1986

North surprised the football world by defeating Melbourne at Football Park and Collingwood on a wet VFL Park to reach the Semi-Finals of the Foster's Cup competition.

1987

With Mike Nunan coaching and two unsuccessful grand final appearances in the two previous years, North removed the monkey off its back and won its twelfth premiership. Captained by Darel Hart, it thrashed head-hunting Glenelg, its nemesis of the previous two seasons, by a whopping 82 points - 23.7 to 9.9. At half-time the scores were: North - 11.4 to Glenelg - 1.5. With Andrew Jarman winning the Magarey Medal, John Roberts the Ken Farmer Medal (for highest goal tally kicked by a player to the end of the minor round) and Mike Parsons (six goals) the Jack Oatey Medal (for best on ground in the Grand Final), the North Adelaide Football Club completed, arguably, its most successful season. Roberts finished the season with 111 goals and became North's fourth century goal-kicker. Jarman became North's 11th to win the 'Magarey' and brought the total medals won by North players to fifteen.

1989

Again North finished Minor Premiers under Nunan but failed dismally in the GF kicking only 1.8 to Port's 15.18. This result was nearly as bad as Port Adelaide's 1.6 when losing the 1905 Grand Final to North Adelaide.

1991

With Mike Nunan still at the helm, North won its thirteenth premiership in a quite vicious Grand Final, more than doubling West Adelaide's 11.7 by kicking 21.22 - a 75-point victory to the Roosters. North had 23 scoring shots to West's eight in the second half. Kim Klomp was North's Captain and Darel Hart, who kicked seven goals, won the Jack Oatey Medal for best on ground. North showed the benefit of not being intimidated by West's focus on the player rather than the ball which resulted in a record number of players being reported for a Grand Final.

1993

Darel Hart was appointed Coach. Brenton Phillips won the Magarey Medal, the 12th North player to do so. Champion Ruckman Mick Redden retired after 16 seasons (starting in 1978) and 334 premiership games - the most games played by a North Adelaide player.

1996

Michael Flynn became Coach. Joshua (Josh) Francou became North's latest (13th) recipient of the Magarey Medal. A total of 17 medals have been won by players representing NAFC. Barrie Robran was one of 136 inaugural Members inducted into the AFL's Australian Football Hall of Fame.

1997

Chris McDermott was appointed coach but achieved only limited success during his four-season stint.

1998

Don Lindner was retrospectively awarded the 1967 Magarey Medal, which he originally lost in a count-back to Trevor Obst. Lindner became the 14th NAFC player to win a Magarey Medal and brought the Club representative total medals to 18.

2001

After a stint as Assistant-coach with the Adelaide Football Club, Darel Hart was re-appointed as league Coach. Barrie Robran was elevated to Legend Status of the AFL and is still the only player holding this status who never played VFL or AFL football.

2003

Under Hart, North finished bottom for the sixth time in its history - the other years (with the number of teams in brackets) were: 1999 (9), 1978 (10), 1912 (7), 1899 (6) and 1894 (4) - and with its worst-ever success rate in the SANFL of only one win and two draws for the season. Hart agreed to stand down and Duane Massey, Reserves Coach, took over the League coaching position for the last 6 matches of the season.

2004

Former Club star, Andrew Jarman - 1985 & 1989 Club Best & Fairest and 1987 Magarey Medallist - became the Club's 29th different, appointed coach since the first in 1920. Jarman turned the playing fortunes of the team around by the force of his passion and the confidence he instilled in those around him. The remarkable result was that the Club played in the finals, winning the elimination final before losing the First Semi-Final and signalling a new era of success for the Club.

A personal performance of note was by full-forward Daniel Hargraves who, during the season, became only the fifth North player to kick over 300 career goals. He follows in the goal-kicking footsteps of Farmer, Dietrich, Sachse and Rodney Robran, the others to achieve this feat.

2006

After finishing 2nd at the end of the minor round North contested the finals for the 3rd consecutive year, only to fall short by 7 points against eventual Premier Woodville-West Torrens in the preliminary final. The Reserves achieved back to back premierships, thrashing Norwood by 97 points in the Grand Final.

The NAFC was named Club of the Year by the SANFL and also won the Stanley H. Lewis trophy for the second successive year as the best performed SANFL club through all grades.

2007

Once again North contested the finals, this time defeating Woodville West Torrens in the preliminary final to participate in its first Grand Final since 1991. Central District however were too good on the day, defeating North by 65 points, 16.11 (107) to 5.12 (42). After a sensational debut season, VFL import James (Jimmy) Allan became the 15th North Adelaide footballer to win the Magarey Medal - the Club's 19th. Tim Delvins was also successful in winning the Reserves Magarey Medal and the North U/17's capped off a great year for the club by defeating Port Adelaide in the Grand Final to claim the premiership.

2008

After contesting the Grand Final in 2007, 2008 was a year of disappointment as the club finished in 7th place with 9 wins. After 5 seasons as senior coach Andrew Jarman’s tenure was ended. The Club mourned the sudden loss of club legend and 1967 Magarey Medallist Don Lindner who passed away on New Years Eve.

2009

Former Central District premiership captain Daniel Healy was appointed as the senior coach of the North Adelaide Football Club. North contested the elimination final against Woodville West Torrens but unfortunately just fell short in a close contest losing by 11 points.

Rhys Archard capped off a great year personally by becoming the 16th NAFC player to win the Magarey Medal, the club’s 20th. Hot favourite James Allan was a very unlucky runner up losing the award by 1 vote. Rhys Archard with his 2009 Magarey Medal.

2010

High expectation ended in disappointment as North Adelaide finished in 7th position at the end of the minor round. James “Jimmy” Allan had yet another brilliant season and was a most deserving winner of his 2nd Magarey Medal. James also collected the Barrie Robran medal for the 4th consecutive season by winning the club champion trophy.

The North Adelaide under 16’s gave some joy to the club by claiming the premiership, defeating Glenelg in the Grand Final. League coach Daniel Healy and North Adelaide parted company at the conclusion of the 2010 season. James Allan with his 2010 Magarey Medal

2011

Former North Adelaide and Port Power star, Josh Francou, was appointed as the new senior coach. North had a much more competitive season but ultimately finished second last after losing 8 matches by 12 points or less.

After another stellar season, James Allan won his third Magarey Medal and our under 16’s made it back-to-back success when they won the 2011 premiership.

2012

For most of the season, North were frustratingly inconsistent and after 16 rounds had only 5 wins from 13 matches. However, five wins from the last 7 games was enough to secure a finals spot for the first time in three years. North showed that they were beginning to assert themselves as a force in the competition when they eliminated the Eagles and then reigning premier Central District before losing the preliminary final to West Adelaide.

James Allan and Clint Alleway retired at the end of the season.

2013

In 2013 North were a force, at one stage sitting in second position with an 11-4 record before losing its last 5 games and finishing 5th. An exciting finals campaign saw North win 3 finals to reach the Grand Final. However, injuries in the preliminary final cost the team and it was unable to win the big one.

2014

Josh Francou left the Club to pursue a coaching career in the AFL and Ken McGregor was appointed as the new senior coach.

2016

After a dismal previous year when we won only 1 game, former Port Power star Josh Carr replaced McGregor as senior coach

2018

After two trying years when the Club finished second to bottom and bottom respectively, some high quality recruits gave some optimism for 2018. North were sitting on top of the ladder after 11 rounds with a 9-2 record but a slump in the latter part of the year, with only 2 wins in 7 matches, left North in 5th position at the end of the minor round.

The Roosters defeated South in the elimination final in a match which see-sawed all day, and ran over Sturt in a commanding performance in the first semi-final. Down by 47 points against the Eagles in the third quarter, North exploded, kicking 13 of the next 14 goals to turn the match on its head.

In a pulsating game, widely regarded as one of the best in SANFL history, North finished strongly to win the Grand Final against red-hot favourites Norwood by 19 points. The Club’s first premiership for 27 years (by far the longest drought in our Club’s history) was celebrated long and hard!

PREMIERSHIPS

Not surprisingly for a side that had only entered the competition in 1888, North struggled in the first few years. The 1899 season was their worst, although they did have some wins against the better sides and it was generally agreed that the gap between the established teams and the newer teams was lessening.

It all came together in 1900, however, beginning what has been referred to as the "first golden age" for the Club. The system used to determine the premier in 1900 was complicated by today's standards. There was a first set of 12 matches for each Club which determined their relative positions on the table. The Clubs were then divided into two sections A and B (A was the first, third and fifth teams and B was the second, fourth and sixth teams). The teams in each section played each other once and the leading teams in each section then played. If the winner was the "minor premier", this secured the premiership for that team; otherwise the winner of this second round played the minor premier for the premiership. Thus the minor premier had a kind of double chance and even the bottom side had a chance to win the premiership.

1900

Background

In 1900 North were on top of the table after the first set of matches with 9 wins, 2 losses and a draw. South and Norwood won sections A and B respectively and so South then played North in the final match to determine the premiership.

The Grand Final

The yell that won a premiership.

Despite finishing the first part of the season as the best-performed team, North were not favoured to win the premiership. South had been the power side of the 1890's, they were the reigning premiers and they had narrowly beaten North in their section A match two weeks previously.

An excellent crowd of about 7,000 people turned up to see the match, demonstrating a marked revival in public interest in the game.

South kicked to the Northern end in the first quarter, favoured by a strong wind. It was a desperately fought struggle from the beginning, with South constantly in attack but the North defence, lead by Reedman, Jones and Shaw, resolute. Finally North went into attack and a clever piece of play from H. Pash sent the ball to McNamara who kicked the only goal for the quarter, giving North an important 4 point lead.

The second quarter was a battle of defences, with just a single point scored by each side.

South improved markedly after the interval and were well on top in the third quarter but made little inroad on North's lead.

They again took charge early in the last quarter but kicked poorly for goal to level the scores 1.2 to 0.8. It was then that the North supporters let out a wild yell of encouragement to their team, and this seemed to really inspire the players. North goaled through Shaw and then added a point, but South rallied to score their only goal of the match and bring the margin back to 1 point. North then closed the season with a rush, with goals to Matthews and then McNamara securing North's first premiership.

It was an exceedingly popular win for the young Club. The Retrospect of "The Evening Journal" was lavish in its praise : "It was not by the assistance of the older players they did so well, although Reedman, Jones and Kay helped them wonderfully, but it was principally due to the men brought up among them that they achieved such success. No team could live alongside them in pace, but even with all their speed, they never sacrificed united play. They were clever and clean in handling the ball, and quick in passing, and while they were solid right through, they had some exceedingly brilliant men. In all departments they were strong and the dash and vigour of the whole eighteen were splendid. Now they have had their first taste of the glories of top place, North Adelaide with the splendid material they have, should be a power in the game for many years to come".

1902

Background

Having won their first premiership in 1900, North were cruelly hurt by injury in 1901. They finished third but unearthed a brilliant crop of juniors including Sandland, Jessop, Lewis, Dawson and Smith. Sandland won the Magarey Medal in 1901 in his first and only full season of SANFL football. Although he didn't play during the minor rounds of 1902, he returned to play a significant role in the grand final.

The 1902 season saw the introduction of the "Challenge" system of finals. Under this system, the teams finishing first and third played in one final and the teams finishing second and third played in another final. The winners then played in the grand final, but if the minor premier was not the ultimate winner, that team had the right to challenge for the premiership.

North began 1902 with 3 losses, but thereafter didn't lose another game. Despite this, they finished second on the ladder and Port were the minor premiers. North were therefore scheduled to play West Torrens in a final on Saturday 30 August and the Port-South final was to be played on Monday 1 September (a public holiday), following a match between Yorke Peninsular and a combined18. North won their final comfortably, 6.9 to 1.3. But in a sensational development, Port refused to play under the appointed umpire (Mr Kneebone). This was first announced on Saturday afternoon, but only confirmed on the morning of the match. When it was apparent that the game would not go ahead, North were approached to play an exhibition game against South. To their enormous credit, despite the extremely short notice and the absence of several of their best players, North managed to field a team of 18 and put in a creditable performance. The issue of the forfeit was discussed at length at the Association meeting on the following Wednesday and Port were disqualified from the finals. It was agreed that South and North would meet in the grand final on the following Saturday.

Premiership Team

Forward: J. Earl E. Johns A Daly

Half-forward: J. Matthews F. Dickenson N. Lemon

Centre: N. Pash P. Sandland J Rees

Half-back: T. Bradley N. Clark N. Claxton

Back: W. Dawkins A Ewers G. Carter

Followers: C. Fotheringham J. Reedman C. Jessop

(Captain: J. Reedman)

The Grand Final

North triumph in "the premiership quarter"

Mr Kneebone was the appointed umpire for the grand final. Given the controversy that had surrounded him, it was pleasing that he was given a very cordial and sympathetic greeting. He gave an excellent display, keeping the contest open and clean. The weather was almost perfect - warm with a very slight breeze, and North kicked to the Southern end in the first quarter. Play started slowly but soon quickened and the early part was a battle of defences, with Bradley the stand-out for North. South got the first goal on the board but from the centre bounce Rees kicked the ball forward and Dickenson scored a goal from a long way out. After a point to South, N. Pash returned the ball to the other end and Jessop kicked a great snapshot goal. From the bounce, Rees got the ball to Jessop who goaled again to give North an 11 point lead at the first break.

South had the better of the second quarter and, despite resolute defence from North, hit the lead after scoring two goals. Another running goal to Jessop (his third) regained the lead for North and the margin at half-time was 4 points.

After the break, North opened the game up with a rousing exhibition of fast, clean, skilful football. Dickenson scored his second goal, then Johns kicked another from an "impossible" angle. Three points followed, before South finally escaped North's attacking zone and added 3 points themselves. North then took possession of the game, with Jessop snapping his 4th goal and Daly bringing up North's 8th goal and securing a 32 point lead at the last change.

The game was all but over, and the last quarter was a tame affair as South realized that they were beaten and the teams played out time. North had most of the play but were inaccurate, with Johns scoring their only goal for the term.

North had won their second premiership in 3 years.

Scores

North First - 3.2(20) Second - 4.2(26) Third - 8.8(56) Final - 9.14(68)

South First - 1.3(9) Second - 3.4(22) Third - 3.6(24) Final - 4.7 (31)

1905

Background

North had two fairly disappointing years after their 1902 premiership, finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.

For the 1905 season, they picked up a star recruit in T. D. ("Tommy") MacKenzie from West Torrens. MacKenzie had won the 1902 Magarey Medal and was an established star. Under the direction of captain Jack Reedman (the concept of a coach had not yet evolved), North were a champion team who played magnificent football. They lost only one game for the year and drew another and therefore of course finished minor premiers. They played Norwood (3rd) in their semi final, thrashing them 13.12 to 4.17. Port (2nd) accounted for South (4th) comfortably, thus setting up a North-Port grand final.

Premiership Team

Forward: E. Johns A. Daly J. Reedman

Half-forward: C. Jessop W. Drew P. Fleet

Centre: J Rees E. MacKenzie N. Pash

Half-back: T. MacKenzie F Odlum H. Ward

Back: A. Ewers J. Matthews C. Fotheringham

Followers: J. Earl F. Young H. Pash

(Captain: J. Reedman)

The Grand Final

Defence wins the day

North went into the match as firm favourites, but it was hoped that Port would provide stern opposition. Port won the toss and elected to kick to the Southern end which was favoured by a strong breeze. Play opened at a blinding pace with excellent skills shown by both sides, but after 15 minutes no score had been recorded. Fleet finally scored a goal for North, and Port goaled just before the siren to level the scores. It was to be their only goal of the match.

Almost immediately after the start of the second quarter it was apparent that North were playing the superior game and this they continued to do throughout. Jessop scored an early goal for North but it began to drizzle from mid-way through this term, making conditions slippery and hampering the players. Port were unable to advance at all as North dominated play but North could only add 6 more points for the term.

North were immediately into attack after the long break, scoring an early goal through the agency of Johns and extending their lead to 18 points. From that point defences dominated, until North rallied towards the end of the quarter. Jessop scored their 4th goal just before three-quarter time. North held sway again in the last quarter and two early goals to Jessop put the issue beyond doubt. North's third premiership in 6 years had been secured.

An interesting sidelight to this game is that Port's final score of 1.6 was the lowest recorded in a grand final, a dubious record that still stands to this day!

1920

Background

Although there was a long gap between the 1905 & 1920 premierships, North were reasonably successful during this period. They were runners-up in 1906, 1913, 1914 & 1919 and the competition went into recess in 1916, 1917 & 1918 due to the first World War.

North were particularly unlucky in 1919, a year that provided probably the most sensational finals round of all time. The final four comprised Sturt, West Torrens, North and Port. The Challenge system was still in place, so 1st played 3rd and 2nd played 4th and the winners played in the grand final, with the minor premiers having the right to challenge if they were not successful. In the first week North easily beat Sturt and Torrens eliminated Port. North and Torrens drew in the first grand final and North narrowly won the replay 6.2 to 5.3. Sturt, as minor premiers, had the right to then challenge North and this Challenge Final was also drawn. Sturt won the replay narrowly 3.5 to 2.6.

North were again very strong in 1920, losing only 3 games and finishing minor premiers. In the first week of finals, North eliminated Torrens 5.14 to 3.11 and Norwood (who had finished 4th) eliminated Port. Norwood had shown very good form towards the end of the season, but North retained favouritism for the premiership because they had defeated Norwood comfortably on both occasions they had met during the minor round.

Premiership Team

Forward: L. Davies D. O'Brien L. Sprigg

Half-forward: F. Haines P. Frost G. Trescowthick

Centre: R. Fuss P. Lewis A. Fooks

Half-back: C. Penery J. Hamilton D. Crawford

Back: I. Davey R. Foale L. Reedman

Followers: T. Leahy C. Curnow V. Maloney

(Coach: A. Klose ; Captain: T. Leahy)

The Grand Final

Tom Leahy leads North to the premiership

Norwood won the toss and kicked to the Northern end, favoured by a slight breeze. North attacked early and Leahy took a "sky-scraper" mark and goaled to draw first blood for North. Most of the remainder of the first quarter was a battle of defences, with the ball see-sawing from one end to the other. Eventually Norwood goaled to hit the lead and North added 3 points to lead by 2 points at the break.

Norwood were first away in the second quarter, scoring an early goal. After two fruitless attacks, Frost goaled for North and this signalled the beginning of a period of dominance in the game. North were initially astray, kicking 5 consecutive points, but then goals to Fooks, Lewis and Curnow gave them a handy 25 point lead at half-time.

Both sides opened the second half with great enthusiasm, but the first 10 minutes produced only a point to North. Leahy and Curnow added more minor scores before first Sprigg and then Leahy goaled to virtually seal the game for North. Norwood scored a late goal to give them some hope, but they trailed by 35 points at three-quarter time.

Norwood managed a couple of minor scores to start the last quarter, but from the second kickout North worked the ball along the wing with quick passes, culminating in Davies passing to Maloney, who goaled. Frost added another later in the quarter, and North ran out winners by 48 points.

Scores

North First - 1.3(9) Second - 5.8(38) Third - 7.12(54) Final - 9.15(69)

1930

Background

North had three more good chances for premierships in the nine years 1921 - 1929.

In 1923, they scraped into the finals by drawing with Norwood and beating Port at Alberton, and they then beat Sturt to reach the Grand Final. They were rated a good chance in the Grand Final against Norwood but were beaten.

In 1926 North finished fourth at the end of the minor round. In the first week of the finals, North played superb football to eliminate Port and Norwood beat minor premiers Sturt. In the Grand Final North beat Norwood 11.11 to 10.8, but as in 1919 Sturt (as minor premiers) had the right of challenge. North were unlucky to lose Conrad to injury and Sturt won 9.10 to 7.9.

In 1927 North finished second and eliminated West Torrens in the first final and then beat West 8.3 to 6.11 in the Final. Because of the challenge system, North had to play West (minor premiers) again and this time lost by 7 points. This was the third time (1919, 1926 & 1927) that North had 'won' the Final and then be denied by the challenge system.

Ken Farmer won the award for Best Junior for the 'B' team in 1928 and made an instant impact on debut in 1929 by kicking 62 goals.

In 1930 the Club won 14 of its 17 minor round games and finished minor premiers. Ken Farmer was a star, kicking 57 goals in the first 12 games and then 44 in the next 4 games (including 15 against South in the penultimate round) to become the first SANFL player to kick 100 goals. Tragically, he and his younger brother Elliot were involved in a collision between their motor cycle and a truck in Frome Street near the zoo on the following Friday. Ken injured an ankle but Elliott, who was the driver, sustained severe head injuries and died soon afterwards. They were taking home a box which was to be used to house the many trophies awarded to Ken in recognition of his athletic prowess. Ken carried the box on the pillion and it was this box which saved him from serious injury. Ken announced that he would not play football again that season.

North played Sturt (3rd) in the first final but without Farmer they were well beaten. Port (4th) narrowly beat Norwood (2nd) and then played and defeated Sturt. But as minor premiers North had the right of challenge, so the final match of the season was North against Port. Ken Farmer returned to play in the grand final.

Premiership Team

Forward: C. Barrett K. Farmer J. McDowall

Half-forward: C. Willshire S. Burton H. Hawke

Centre: G. Storer S. Lock N. Drew

Half-back: C. Taylor A. Mangelsdorf D. Conrad

Back: G. Foulis H. Fleet R. May

Followers: P. Furler R. Munn W. Thomas

Reserves: H. Hardwick

(Coach: P. Lewis ; Captain: J. McDowall)

The Grand Final

Farmer returns to help North win Light rain was falling when Port won the toss and elected to kick to the Northern end. The conditions made the greasy ball hard to handle and players found difficulty maintaining balance. North, leading in pace and vigour, had most of the early play but kicked 5 consecutive points before Barrett scored a goal. Port then scored their first goal of the game before Storer went for a long run touching the ball on the ground, eventually handballing to Burton who kicked North's second goal. Heavy rain began to fall and North added two more points as they continued to dominate play. Just before the siren, Port scored their second - a disputed goal which Conrad claimed to have touched. North had been far superior in the first term but lead by only 6 points.

Port leveled the scores with an early goal in the second quarter but from that point North were brilliant. First Farmer took a strong mark over Maywald and goaled. Then he had another shot from the boundary but mis-kicked and Barrett took a great mark and goaled. Finally Farmer kicked two more, the second after a strong mark over a pack. North had handled the sodden ball with exceptional skill to establish a commanding 23 point lead at the long break.

Port players changed into long sleeve jumpers at half-time and with the rain easing off their ball-handling improved notably. Port scored the first goal and Farmer replied for North, his 4th for the game. Then Port scored twice more to reduce the deficit to just 6 points. With the Port defenders concentrating on the dangerous Farmer, Hawke was able to score an easy goal for North to relieve some of the pressure. Shortly after, Furler snapped truly to restore a 3-goal buffer. Remarkably, this was North's seventh consecutive goal without a miss. North added two more minor scores and Port a goal to reduce the margin to 14 points at the last change.

North had several chances to put the issue beyond doubt in the final quarter but could not kick a goal. Furler missed 2 shots while Port added two goals to creep within 2 points with 12 minutes to play. Furler missed again and another point pushed the margin out to 4 points. Port repeatedly went forward but North's backline, steady as a rock throughout, repelled them time and again. Finally, the tension was relieved when the final siren sounded.

After three times being denied premierships by the challenge system, it had at last worked in North's favour. This was the last year of the challenge system.

1931

Background

North were strong again in 1931 and were well-placed with 2 rounds to go with 11 wins and 4 losses. However, they dropped their last 2 games to finish in third place, with three less wins than Port and Sturt but a better percentage than both of those teams. It was widely believed that they had lost the form they had earlier in the year and that they would therefore not be serious contenders for the premiership.

This was the first year of the "Page" finals system, where 1st played 2nd with the winner progressing to the grand final and the loser contesting the preliminary final against the winner of 3rd against 4th. North easily beat Norwood in the first semi-final while Sturt beat Port by a point in the second semi-final. North returned to form with a vengeance in the preliminary final, crushing Port 20.11 to 11.10 to earn the right to play Sturt in the grand final.

Ken Farmer had a sensational year, kicking 109 goals in the minor round and 11 in the first two finals to bring him within 4 goals of Gordon Coventry's record of 124.

Premiership Team

Forward: P. Furler K. Farmer N. Proud

Half-forward: C. Taylor H. Hawke B. Burns

Centre: N. Drew S. Lock W. MacKay

Half-back: A. Mangelsdorf S. Burton D. Conrad

Back: C. Barrett H. Fleet R. Munn

Followers: C. Willshire D. Phillis G. Storer Reserves : G. Foulis

(Coach: P. Lewis ; Captain: P. Furler)

The Grand Final

Farmer breaks Coventry's record

Despite losing to Sturt twice in the minor round, North's form in the preliminary final against Port was so good that they were slight favourites to win the grand final. Sturt kicked to the Northern end in the first quarter, favoured by the breeze. They bolted from the blocks and had 1.1 on the board before North settled. After a couple of points, Proud brought up North's first goal with a long left-foot kick, giving North the lead for the first time. Proud snapped another goal, Hawke passed to Farmer for another and Proud marked a Sturt kick-in and converted for his 3rd for the quarter. Sturt also scored another goal to make the margin 11 points at quarter time.

The second quarter opened with a quick goal to Sturt but North, reproducing the form of the preliminary final, asserted a marked general superiority. They peppered the goals, but scored only one major from 4 attempts. North's defence was resolute, but finally Sturt goaled. Farmer scored twice for North, the first from a long punt and the second after a great mark, to bring him within 1 goal of Coventry's record. Lock scored a further goal for North from a tremendous punt on the run, and the margin at half-time was 19 points. Although Sturt were within reach, North were playing confidently.

After the long break, Sturt threw everything at North and the game became very physical. Three Sturt players and one North player were reported. North were outscored 3 goals to 1 in the early part of the quarter, and then it was goal for goal. At one point Sturt got within 7 points but a late goal to Burns made the margin 13 points at three quarter time. Farmer did not add to his half-time tally, raising doubt about whether he could gain the record.

Sturt could not sustain their effort in the final quarter and were outclassed by North. Furler goaled to give North a 3 goal lead and for the first time, North players began to look for Farmer. Proud hand-balled to him a long way from goal but he kicked truly to equal the record. To a man the crowd cheered, and players from both sides rushed to congratulate him. A little later, he ran in unhindered to score the record-breaking goal. There was a storm of applause, provoking a tremendous outburst of enthusiasm unparalleled in the history of the game. The crowd cheered for some time, and the Sturt backmen clustered around Farmer to congratulate him. North ran out winners by 38 points and Farmer was chaired off by jubilant supporters. Percy Furler also had a day out, playing his 150th game, captaining the side and kicking 2 goals.

An interesting sidelight was that thousands noticed frantic waving from the scoreboard when Farmer broke Coventry's record, and noticed Ken's acknowledgement of it, but did not understand the significance of it all. In fact his father was a member of the ground staff at Adelaide Oval (as was the father of the Sturt full-forward) and he was operating the scoreboard on the day.

Scores

North First - 4.3(27) Second - 8.7(55) Third - 12.9(81) Final - 17.13(115)

Sturt First - 2.4(16) Second - 5.6(36) Third - 10.8(68) Final - 11.11(77)

1949

Background

North were minor premiers again in 1932 but were beaten in the Grand Final. They also played in the finals in 1933, finishing fourth. In 1936 they won the first semi-final but lost the preliminary final. In all of the other years up to and including 1941, they finished fifth (four times), sixth (twice) and seventh (once). Considering the amazing goal-kicking feats of Ken Farmer during the period 1929 - 1941, these were disappointing results. In the years 1942 - 1944 inclusive, there was a combined competition because of the Second World War. North combined with Norwood and played against West-Glenelg, Sturt-South and Port-Torrens, winning premierships in 1943 & 1944.

North finished fourth in 1945, though were desperately unlucky. They played West Torrens in the first semi-final and the game should have been drawn. However, the umpire (Ken Aplin) didn't hear the bell and Torrens scored a goal to win the game. Torrens went on to win the Premiership.

Three more lean years followed without making the finals, but in 1948 a policy was adopted to base the future on youth. Ken Farmer was appointed senior coach in 1949 and the new policies bore immediate fruit. North were minor premiers, and thrashed Norwood 23.14 to 11.13 in the second semi-final. Torrens defeated Norwood in the preliminary final, thus becoming North's opponents in the grand final.

Premiership Team

Forward: K. Carroll D. Stringer O. Arbon

Half-forward: J. Pash R. Phillips P. Kennett

Centre: B. Coulls S. Hancock A. Odgers

Half-back: A. Galloway F. Crouch J. Blunden

Back: T. MacKenzie I. McKay F. O'Leary

Followers: L. Pedler C. Aamodt D. Cox

Reserves: J. Tidswell D. Gilbourne

(Coach: K. Farmer ; Captain: I. McKay)

The Grand Final

Farmer wins in first year as coach

Conditions were very difficult in the grand final. It was hot and humid, and a blustery northerly wind swept into goal from the right pocket. Jeff Pash lead North out for what was his last game for the Club and Torrens appeared 4 minutes after the scheduled starting time. Captain Ian McKay won the toss for North, breaking a long sequence of losing tosses, and kicked with the breeze to the Southern end.

Torrens started better and scored the first goal, using good pace and bustling North into error. Cox received a knock-on from Arbon and brought up North's first goal, and a sequence of 3 points saw North hit the front for the first time. North were beginning to assert an ascendency when Cox goaled again after marking a stray kick from defence. Stringer then added North's third goal before Hank scored for Torrens. Late in the quarter Stringer marked a poor kick-in and goaled to give North a 13 point advantage at the first break. Coach Ken Farmer said after the game that he thought North may have lost the game in this quarter by not taking greater advantage of the wind.

With the wind at their backs, it seemed that Farmer's fears would be realised when Torrens goaled in the first minute of the second quarter. However, North rallied with a goal to Pedler and then resolute defence prevented Torrens from breaking away. Both sides were inaccurate, with North scoring 4 consecutive points. Finally Torrens scored their 4th and 5th goals to draw almost level before Kennett produced a clever left-foot goal. North lead by 8 points at the long break.

As had happened in each of the first two quarters, Torrens scored the first goal of the third term. Cox kicked his third goal for North before Hank levelled the scores when he kicked his third goal. Pash for North and Coverlid for Torrens both goaled and again the scores were locked away at 8.13 each. A point from Mehaffey put Torrens in front, but goals from Stringer and Arbon steadied things for North and gave them a 10 point lead at the last break. McKay rucked for North for 15 minutes in this quarter; it was easily the best ruckwork for the day and it was telling that North kicked 4 straight goals during that period.

The slender advantage to North appeared to be inadequate, and most expected Torrens to run over North in the final term. However, showing superior stamina and fighting qualities, North played like a new team. For the first time, they played with system and attacked repeatedly. Pedler gave North a 3-goal lead and they were in complete control when Phillips kicked the second goal of the quarter. This was judged to be the best goal of the day - Hank ran over the mark and Phillips neatly side-stepped, gained an additional 10 yards and sent a soaring 50 yard screw punt through. Torrens scored another goal, but Stringer replied for North to ensure that they went on to victory. The premiership ended an 18 year drought for North and there were wild celebrations afterwards.

Scores

North First - 4.7(31) Second - 6.13(49) Third - 10.13(73) Final - 13.17(95)

West Torrens First - 2.6(18) Second - 5.11(41) Third - 8.15(63) Final - 9.18(72)

1952

Background

North missed the finals in 1950, finishing fifth, but bounced back in 1951 to finish second. They lost to Port in the second semi-final, defeated Glenelg in the preliminary final and then lost narrowly to Port in the Grand Final.

North finished minor premiers in 1952 and played Port in the second semi-final. They were 29 points down at half-time, but after an inspirational address by Ken Farmer during the break, North fought back to trail by only 3 points at three quarter time. The final quarter was very tense as the lead changed hands several times. Late in the quarter, Ian McKay had a run on the ball and found himself contesting a boundary throw-in in the forward pocket. He grabbed the ball and snapped an incredible goal to snatch a three point win. Norwood then beat Port in the preliminary final to earn the right to meet North in the Grand Final.

Premiership Team

Forward: R. Phillips R. Proud H. McKenzie

Half-forward: D. Gilbourne G. Fuller P. Kennett

Centre: M. Way L. Griffin J. Renner

Half-back: L. Cunningham A. Galloway J. Blunden

Back: L. Weston I. McKay J. Tidswell

Followers: A. Aldenhoven D. Stringer D. Cox

Reserves: K. Carroll A. Odgers

(Coach: K. Farmer ; Captain: I. McKay)

The Grand Final

The record makers

From the opening bounce Norwood were immediately into attack but McKay and Stringer held firm in defence. Norwood scored the first goal, but soon after Phillips recovered quickly to turn and soccer North's first to even the scores. Kennett scored North's second and then Griffin goaled from 50 yards out to give North the early ascendency. Norwood kept up a persistent attack but could not capitalise until near the end of the quarter. The margin at the first break was just 7 points and there was little to suggest the debacle that was to follow.

Five minutes into the second quarter Cox goaled for North, followed quickly by goals to Fuller and Proud. McKenzie marked on the boundary line and passed to Kennett who goaled. Soon after Kennett brought up North's 8th goal and when Phillips' shot bounced through for another the game was all but over. In a superb display, North had kicked 6 unanswered goals. Norwood finally scored their only goal of the quarter but Phillips and McKenzie replied for North to give them a commanding half-time lead of 47 points.

Seconds into the third quarter Norwood brought up their 4th goal. North were then constantly into attack but could only add 4 points before McKenzie finally brought up a major. Goals quickly followed to Kennett, McKenzie and Renner. Next Phillips passed to Gilbourne who goaled from 40 yards. Clearing from defence, Norwood kicked straight to Fuller who marked and passed to Aldenhoven. His goal made the margin 77 points at the final break.

The last quarter completed the rout. While Norwood managed a solitary goal, Cox (2), Proud, Phillips and McKenzie all goaled for North. With time running out, McKay had a run on the ball and was on the half forward line when the ball came into attack. Despite being held initially, he managed to soar above Pat Hall and take a screamer, then kicked truly from 50 yards out on the boundary. The mark became famous because it was spectacularly captured by a newspaper photographer, even appearing on the front page of a London newspaper (with a caption which said it was taken at a Rugby match in Adelaide !). Pat Hall described it as 'the best mark I ever felt'.

It was a massive victory to North by 18 goals, a record grand final margin which stands to this day.

Scores

North First - 3.1(19) Second - 11.3(69) Third - 17.10(112) Final - 23.15(153)

Norwood First - 2.0(12) Second - 3.4(22) Third - 5.5(35) Final - 6.9(45)

1960

Background

After the 1952 premiership, North finished fifth three years in a row, narrowly missing the finals each time. In 1956 the Club rose to third, easily winning the first semi-final and then losing the preliminary final by 20 points. 1957 was another disappointing season, winning just six games and finishing sixth. 1958 shaped as a magnificent season with the Club winning 15 of its first 16 matches, the last 11 in a row (a Club record). Then in round 17 North sustained four serious injuries and another the following week. Not surprisingly, with a patched-together side, North lost the second semi-final - and lost another two players injured. They then lost the preliminary final as well, thus finishing third in a season which had promised so much.

1959 proved to be a disaster - after winning the first game, North lost 12 in a row and ultimately finished seventh with just three wins.

Jack McCarthy was appointed coach in 1960 and had an immediate impact. The first two games resulted in magnificent 65 and 40 point wins, and North finished with 13 wins and 5 losses. The second semi-final against Port was a tight contest, with North leading at each change by 18, 12 and 12 points respectively. Port got within 3 points with 10 minutes to play, but North stood firm with raw courage and were ultimately victorious by 10 points. The win gave North a week's rest and when Norwood eliminated Port in the preliminary final, it set up a North-Norwood Grand Final. The 3 matches between these teams during the year had all been closely fought, with the biggest margin 6 points, so a rugged, stirring clash was expected.

Premiership Team

Forward: A. Faggotter R. Pascoe B. Potts

Half-forward: M. Whitford D. Lindner T. Hughes

Centre: R. Hewett R. Trenorden B Barbary

Half-back: B. Gambling M. Montgomery R. Carroll

Back: D. Gilbourne R. Hammond T. Lindner

Followers: J. Bubner B. Kent W. Thomas

Reserves: A. Cheek P. Bottroff

(Coach: J. McCarthy ; Captain: D. Gilbourne)

The Grand Final

North wins a thriller

Pre-match excitement was intense and conditions were perfect as Gilbourne won the toss and North kicked to the Northern end.

Norwood settled first and goaled within the first minute. Two more goals saw them out to a handy lead before Trenorden finally opened North's account with a major. Norwood replied quickly to restore their lead, but North had steadied and began to turn on the pace. Potts scored his first after a fiery clash, then goaled again. When he put his third goal on the board with a checkside punt, North hit the front for the first time. Lindner marked and goaled to complete a remarkable run of 4 goals in 5 minutes, giving North a 9 point lead at the first break.

As the second term got underway, North had the ascendency across centre and through Trenorden, Gambling and Lindner. Potts kicked his 4th goal, but was immediately flattened in the centre and was in the hands of the trainers for 3 minutes before groggily resuming. Norwood seized the momentum and kicked 3 unanswered goals (2 from free kicks) to again hit the front. A fine passage of play saw Barbary pass to Whitford, who got the ball over to Thomas who snapped for goal, and Potts got his foot to the ball on the line to give the lead back to North. When Kent walked into an open goal shortly after, it restored a 7 point lead to North.

North attacked repeatedly at the start of the third term but managed only 3 points. Finally Thomas snapped truly to stretch the lead to 15 points. Norwood goaled, but Hughes replied for North. Then a magnificent piece of play saw Hammond race from defence to mark, play on and send a 70 yard drop kick deep into attack. It cleared the pack and was sharked by Potts, who put through his 6th goal. In yet another twist to the game, Norwood kicked the next 3 goals to trail by only 4 points at the last break.

The stage was set for a thriller, and the crowd was not disappointed. The first 10 minutes were so tight that neither team scored. Then Norwood goaled to hit the lead and when they goaled again they had an 8 point lead at the 15 minute mark. But there was to be one final twist to the game. Whitford kicked a huge screw punt goal and then Barrie Barbary gathered a great pick up on the run and kicked a magnificent dropkick goal to put North in front again at the 20 minute mark. The defining moment came when Pascoe had a long shot at goal that came off hands to Trenorden who got it over to Potts. It was fitting that his seventh goal sealed the game for North, although Norwood quickly replied and North had to hang on grimly for the final minutes to record a stirring victory.

Tribute was paid to North Coach Jack McCarthy who, in his first season, transformed North into a speedy, power-packed aggressive combination. Courage and refusal to admit defeat were seen as North's greatest attributes.

Scores

North First - 5.5(35) Second - 8.6(54) Third - 11.10(76) Final - 14.11(95)

Norwood First - 4.2(26) Second - 7.5(47) Third - 10.12(72) Final - 13.12(90)

1971

Background

Although North didn't win another premiership in the 1960's it was a fairly successful decade for the Club. After just missing the finals in 1961 (seemingly suffering from a premiership hangover) and inexplicably dropping to 6th in 1962, North rebounded in 1963 to finish 3rd at the end of the minor round. North beat West comfortably in the first semi-final and then defeated Torrens by 2 points in the preliminary final. North played Port in the grand final and fought gallantly, but were never able to recover from a poor start.

For 1964 North cleared 10 players to other clubs, many of whom went on to become 'name' players. Not surprisingly, North had a very disappointing year and finished 8th in the new 10 team competition. 1965 was a much better season and although North had a bad run with injury they managed 13 wins and missed the finals only on percentage.

1966 was a similar season with the same number of wins but this time North finished 3rd. They comfortably beat South in the first semi-final but were beaten by Sturt in the preliminary final. Barrie Robran debuted in the Reserves finals in 1966.

Geof Motley was appointed coach in 1967 and the Club had a stellar minor round, winning 16 of 20 games and finishing minor premiers. Unfortunately, perhaps due to inexperience, North lost both the second semi-final and preliminary final to finish 3rd.

North finished 3rd again in 1968, having won 15 and lost 7 games. They defeated West (4th) by 34 points in the first semi-final and led Port by 19 points at half-time in the preliminary final. However, Barrie Robran was showing the effects of a leg injury from early in the second quarter and Dennis Sachse went off injured early in the second half and North lost momentum, eventually losing by 19 points. This was their third consecutive preliminary final loss.

The 1969 season started promisingly but 13 wins and 7 losses left the Club in 5th position.

Mike Patterson was appointed Captain-Coach in 1970 and although North finished with 1 less win than the previous year, this time it made the finals. There was a quick exit, however, as North lost the first semi-final.

As the 1971 season progressed it was felt that the will to win and determination at the Club were the best they had been for 10 years. Patterson was credited with developing applied, systematic pressure. By late in the season the Club seemed unbeatable, finishing minor premiers.

The second semi-final against Port was a tough, rugged, bruising affair with defences on top most of the day. It was relatively close for the first three quarters, but Port edged away in the last quarter to lead by 22 points at the 14 minute mark. Given the tightness of the match up to that point, most assumed that margin would be enough to ensure victory for Port. However, inspired by Patterson in ruck and the mercurial Barrie Robran at centre-half-forward, North lifted all over the ground and slammed through 7 goals to 1 to win by 15 points. This included 5 goals in 6 minutes from the 18 minute mark which was sparked by a long goal from the boundary by Von Bertouch.

Premiership Team

Forward: M. Patterson N. Sachse K. Francou

Half-forward: A. Rebbeck B. Robran T. Collins

Centre: J. Phillips K. Lehmann B. Stringer

Half-back: D. Burns B. Jaworskyj A. Howard

Back: G. Paull R. Hammond P. Anderson

Followers: G. Sporn D. Webb T. Von Bertouch

Reserves: A. Wilkey B. Hearl

(Coach: M. Patterson ; Captain: M. Patterson)

The Grand Final

"Patto" leads North to success

North Adelaide coach Mike Patterson won the toss at the beginning of the grand final at Adelaide Oval before a crowd of 52,228 and this was to set the trend of the game. The Roosters began confidently with first use of the breeze, posting the first goal after only two minutes after Neil Sachse had marked at centre half forward. His long kick bounced through for a goal after clearing the pack. Another goal quickly followed for the Roosters as Daryl Webb handballed to Adrian Rebbeck in the open and he promptly goaled. The game was proving to be one way traffic as Port struggled to set up any ascendancy. North were continually in attack and Webb and Rebbeck both goaled to give the Roosters a 29 point lead at quarter time.

Port fans were hoping to see a Port revival with the breeze in the second term but North had other ideas. The Roosters' greater speed, quick tackling, slick handball and well-disciplined defence was too good for Port. North drew first blood when Neil Sasche's handpass found Rebbeck only metres out from the goal line and he made no mistake. Although North added only one more goal for the quarter through Rebbeck, the Magpies could manage only two points to trail miserably 0.3 to North's 6.11 at half time.

North again looked dangerous in the third term but, against the run of play, Port brought up their first goal. North quickly replied with full points from Daryl Webb. The game then developed into a dour battle of defences until Port broke through again with their second goal. Again Webb replied for North and when Terry Collins finished the quarter with a brilliant soccered goal, North held a commanding 56 point lead at three quarter time.

As the final term began the game became very defensive as North still controlled the run of the ball and played wide to the flanks. Port goaled first, but Neil Sachse quickly replied for North with a clever left foot snap. The Magpies' cause appeared hopeless but halfway through the last quarter Port suddenly exploded and slammed on five goals in six minutes. However, time was running out for the Magpies as North steadied and deservedly ran out winners by 20 points.

Scores

North First - 4.6(30) Second - 6.11(47) Third - 9.18(72) Final - 10.19(79)

1972

Background

North and Port were the heavyweights again in 1972, although their minor round clashes had not been close. Port won the first by 19 points, North the second by 41 points and Port the third in the penultimate round by 77 points. North were minor premiers with 16 wins and 5 losses. North won the second semi-final by 21 points and Port won their way back to confront North by narrowly beating Central Districts in the Preliminary Final.

Premiership Team

Forward: B. Hearl D. Sachse D. Marsh

Half-forward: D. Webb R. Robran A. Rebbeck

Centre: J. Phillips B. Robran B. Stringer

Half-back: G. Strang B. Jaworskyj A. Howard

Back: G. Paull R. Hammond J. Spry

Followers: G. Sporn J. Plummer T. Von Bertouch

Reserves: R. Schubert K. Barr

(Coach: M. Patterson ; Captain: M. Patterson)

The Grand Final

Back-to-back triumphs

Terry Collins was a last minute omission from the side because of a broken blood vessel in his leg, and he was replaced by Rodney Robran. Acting captain Bob Hammond won the toss and chose to kick to the Southern end against the breeze.

The game opened at a furious pace, with North quickly into attack and with their first goal on the board from Rodney Robran. Port played 3 rovers, so that Bob Hammond was forced to pick up a rover in the forward pocket. The pacy rovers proved to be a handful, and Port kicked the next 4 goals to go to an early 18 point lead. Barrie Robran then began to exert a significant influence on the game, passing off to Rodney Robran for his second goal. Late in the quarter Sachse took a mark in the goalsquare and converted to reduce the margin to 9 points at the break.

North did all the attacking in the early stages of the second quarter but missed opportunities when Rodney Robran hit the post and then Marsh kicked poorly from a set shot. North looked to be setting up a goal after a string of handpasses finished with Hearl in the goalsquare but he was heavily tackled. Port cleared, but the ball was marked by Phillips who played on and kicked truly to reduce the margin to 2 points. Port kicked the next 2 goals, and the match then became a dour battle of defences. The deadlock was eventually broken when Hearl took a great mark and kicked a 60 yard goal. The margin at half time was 8 points.

Plummer snapped an early goal for North, Port replied, then von Bertouch took the ball off hands and fed a handball to Marsh who kicked truly. Phillips, beaten early, was providing plenty of drive from his wing, and Sachse began to move around and create a target up forward. He grabbed 2 strong marks but missed both times, thus levelling the scores. Rebbeck was rewarded for a great fighting effort with a free but he also missed - North were in front for the first time since the opening minutes. Von Bertouch received a handball from the kick-in and goaled, then Sachse almost marked, retrieved the ball on the ground and burst through for another goal. A magnificent handball from Barrie Robran found Phillips and Sachse marked his kick and converted. Another good passage of play saw Barrie Robran take a good mark, pass to brother Rodney who passed to Hearl. Hearl's huge kick sailed through to give North a commanding 27 point lead. Port scored a goal in time-on, but late goals to Rebbeck and Sachse blew the margin out to 32 points at the last change.

North were immediately into attack in the last quarter and Sachse took another strong mark and goaled. Port goaled to reduce the margin to 31 points, but when Barrie Robran floated forward to mark and goal at the 15 minute mark, the game was all but over. Shortly after he gathered the ball brilliantly on the boundary and kicked to the goalsquare, where Marsh gathered the ball off hands and snapped truly. Port scored another goal, but North completed a resounding 56 point victory with goals to von Bertouch, Sachse (his 6th) and Hearl.

Scores

North First - 3.3(21) Second - 5.6(36) Third - 13.11(89) 19.14(128)

Port First - 4.6(30) Second - 6.8(44) Third - 8.9(57) Final - 10.12(72)

1987

Background

North were again around the mark in 1973, finishing second with 16 wins and 5 losses. It was the first year of a new final five system and North had to play Sturt in the qualifying final (second versus third). North lost by six points and in a strange piece of programming then had to confront Norwood at Norwood Oval in the first semi-final. Again North struggled to get their game going but, inspired by Robran, eventually got home by five points. In the preliminary final it all clicked and North humiliated Sturt 25.18 to 9.21. The 1973 Grand Final against Glenelg was the last to be played at Adelaide Oval and it was a classic. In a game many observers believe to be the best Grand Final of all time the lead changed hands many times before Glenelg finally won 21.11 to 19.16.

The Club slipped to seventh in 1974 and was fifth in 1975 but was beaten in the Elimination Final. The next five seasons were very forgettable with the Club finishing 8th, 8th, last, 6th & 8th. Mike Nunan was appointed senior coach in 1981 and he brought a lot of new ideas to the Club. North were 8th again in 1981 but improved to win 10 out of 22 games in 1982 although they finished 7th. Despite only slight improvement in 1983 (11 wins) North made the final five and easily accounted for South in the elimination final before losing to Sturt in the first semi final.

The Club slipped back to 8th position in 1984, winning only six games. At the Annual General Meeting, North members voted overwhelmingly for change. As a result there were sweeping changes to the Board.

It all came together in 1985 with the team playing skilful run-on football and being undefeated in the first round of matches. They finished minor premiers but lost the second semi final to Glenelg before defeating West in the Preliminary Final. Although North led for most of the first half in the Grand Final and had its chances to go in with a comfortable half time lead, in the end Glenelg were too strong.

North continued their domination of the competition in 1986, again finishing minor premiers. This time North beat Glenelg in the second semi final and were red hot favourites to win the premiership. However, Glenelg applied a lot of physical pressure (some of it legal) in the Grand Final and North were again defeated. Many observers predicted that North would be a spent force in 1987.

Contrary to that expectation, North were even more dominant in 1987 and finished minor premiers for the third successive year. They won 19 out of 22 minor round games, scoring 20 goals or more in nine of those games. This time they defeated Norwood in the second semi final and waited to see who their opponent would be in the Grand Final. For the third successive year it was Glenelg. Despite their clear superiority throughout the year, North were not favoured to win the premiership because they had to face their nemesis of the previous two seasons.

Premiership Team

Forward: M. Parsons J. Roberts S. Sims

Half-forward: D. Jarman P. Bennett C. Burton

Centre: R. Carlaw K. Klomp D. Sanders

Half-back: J. Riley T. Clisby D. Tiller

Back: P. Simmons P. Arnold S. Riley

Followers: M. Redden A. Jarman D. Hart

Reserves: W. Slattery M. Armfield

(Coach: M. Nunan ; Captain: D. Hart)

The Grand Final

Power, guts and glory

Even before the ball was bounced, it was evident that North were not going to be physically intimidated in this game. This was perhaps best exemplified by big Mick Redden singling out the Stringer brothers and advising them that no rough-house tactics would be tolerated.

North won the toss and kicked with the breeze to the Southern end. Their early aggression towards the ball and opposition created a few free kicks for Glenelg, but the mood had been set. At the seven minute mark Sims took a ball from a field bounce and threaded a magical goal through a pack to open North's score. An even more miraculous goal followed shortly after when Darren Jarman ran on to a loose ball forward of centre, bounced once, and, tucked against the boundary line, threaded a left foot snap from 45 metres. Roberts, Darren Jarman and Sims all goaled from left foot snaps and the Roosters held a commanding 31 point lead at quarter time.

It was Glenelg's turn with the breeze in the second quarter, but it took North only 22 seconds to score a goal through Burton after a series of clever taps and handballs. Glenelg finally opened their account at the seven minute mark, but North's run-on play was magnificent and in two minutes, three goals through Burton, Parsons and Darren Jarman gave North the ascendency again. Further goals to Parsons and Roberts without reply from Glenelg stretched the lead to 59 points at half time.

Any thoughts of a come-back from Glenelg were quickly removed when Parsons, Burton, Andrew Jarman and Parsons again all goaled in the first eight minutes of the third term. The second of these featured a magnificent 'blind' handball from Sims over his head which hit Burton on the chest as he streaked towards goal. Knowing the game was won, North probably relaxed a little although they continued to play fantastic football. Glenelg got the next two goals, then Roberts scored two for North. Glenelg got another but North rounded off the quarter with another goal to Sims.

Parsons brought up his fifth goal early in the last term and after Glenelg got one back, Roberts scored his fifth after marking a pass from Andrew Jarman. Two more goals to Glenelg were followed by Parsons' sixth goal and after another two to Glenelg, first Sims and then Andrew Jarman kicked left foot goals to complete a memorable win.

Paul Weston described the match thus : "This surely was the greatest performance in the history of the North Adelaide Football Club. And I don't think it's stretching the point too far to say that, in the mood North players were in on Saturday, any team in Australia would have struggled to beat them.

Think of all the superlatives, and they belong to the Roosters. North's devastating come-back from all the pain and humiliation of the previous two seasons must rank as one of the most supreme achievements in the annals of SA sport. It was evident very early in the grand final that it would belong to North because of its fanatical desire for the ball and the way it was absolutely committed to confront every challenge. Each time a North player went down, team-mates seemed inspired to greater heights. They couldn't be hurt. They simply bounced up and tore into the fray repeatedly.

It is one of the best things about team sport that occasionally you can see a performance where every player operates at maximum efficiency, totally committed to a collective goal. It was always a lop-sided contest, yet North's dominance and the manner in which it went about its annihilation of Glenelg kept almost everybody's attention."

Scores

North First - 5.2(32) Second - 11.4(70) Third - 18.5(113) Final - 23.7(145)

Glenelg First - 0.1(1) Second - 1.5(11) Third - 4.7(31) Final - 9.9(63)

1991

Background

After such achievement in 1987, too many players found it difficult going in 1988 and the Club slipped to 6th position. North bounced back well in 1989 to be minor premiers again but were beaten by Port by 23 points in the second semi final. North then beat Norwood by 6 goals to earn the right to play in another Grand Final. This one proved to be a disaster for North, with very strong blustery winds and rain making it impossible for North to play its normal run on game.

North were badly hit by injuries in 1990 but managed to finish third at the end of the minor round. They lost to Glenelg in the Qualifying Final by 23 points but bounced back to defeat South by 56 points in the First Semi-Final. A badly depleted side then lost to Port in the Preliminary Final.

North were a force again in 1991 and were top at the half way point of the season with nine wins and two losses. A mid-season slump including three successive losses resulted in North finishing third behind South and the Eagles. The Roosters were too capable for a disappointing Eagles combination in the Qualifying Final, winning 15.14 to 9.6. They then stormed into the Grand Final with a resounding victory over South, 10.22 to 7.6. But for their inaccuracy in front of goal (which included hitting the post five times) they would have won by more. Meanwhile, West (who were 5th but had finished the season in great form) beat Port, the Eagles and then South to also make the Grand Final.

Premiership Team

Forward : C. Burton M. Parsons D. Hart

Half-forward : B. Atkinson P. Bennett S. Hamilton

Centre : D. Sanders P. Krieg M. Marshall

Half-back : S. Barratt T. Clisby T. Perkins

Back : R. Saunders S. Tasker B. Ryan

Followers : M. Redden K. Klomp S. Sims

Reserves : S. Riley T. Nunan

(Coach : M. Nunan ; Captain : K. Klomp)

The Grand Final

Magnificence in mayhem

The Grand Final was played in fine and warm conditions with a slight breeze favouring the Southern end. West won the toss and kicked with the breeze but North, who were playing in their fifth Grand Final in seven seasons, were the first to settle. After a couple of unproductive sorties into attack, a string of handballs resulted in a mark to Hart only 30 metres out, and he kicked truly to open North's account. In a sign of things to come, Hart was hit by Goss as he marked but no penalty was paid - then a fight erupted after the goal was scored. West replied against the run of play soon after to level the scores, but from the centre bounce North ran the ball into attack with clever handball and again Hart made good position to mark and goal. West again levelled the scores, and there followed a torrid few minutes in which first Krieg was felled after taking a mark (unbelievably, no penalty was paid) and then Hamilton was first punched in the head and then taken crudely around the neck. Only the second of these incidents resulted in a free kick, and one can only wonder if the game might have been played differently if stricter penalties were enforced from the outset. North were playing the better football, and eventually Hart posted his third goal and then Hamilton cleverly soccered a goal to give North a handy break. Once more against the run of play West scored 2 goals to draw within a point, but North finished the quarter with Hart scoring his 4th goal.

The second quarter started where the first had finished, with North playing skilful running football and West seemingly intent on physical intimidation. One run out of defence saw Perkins decked after he had kicked into attack, and Burton goaled from the free downfield. Three points followed to North, before Burton kicked a magical goal, gathering the ball in the pocket, turning and threading a goal with his left foot. Shortly after Klomp was hit after he had disposed of the ball, again not gaining a free kick. He retaliated in the next passage of play, and West goaled from the resulting 50 metre penalty. Frustration was running high, and it probably should have come as no surprise when Sims hit Simpson in the side of the head as they contested a ball near the boundary line. Simpson was stretchered from the field, and any hope of the game becoming less physical was gone. North's defence was holding strong and they launched many attacks from defence. Atkinson kicked a long goal from inside the centre square, and from the centre bounce Redden tapped to Atkinson who handballed to Krieg and his long bomb also cleared the defence and bounced through. North's lead was out to 31 points and looking ominous.

West goaled from a dubious free kick and should have goaled again when Modra marked only metres out. However, he played on and completely miskicked, sending the ball out of bounds. North ran the ball beautifully from the back pocket, finishing with a great long goal to Perkins. Another soft free and 50 metre penalty gave West a goal, but a great long goal to Tim Nunan restored North's lead to 30 points at the long break.

The third quarter started in torrid fashion, with Hamilton again smacked in the face and then Sims decked after disposal creating a big melee. West lost focus completely at this stage, allowing Hart to run in an easy goal for North. The umpires were now paying a lot of free kicks, but the game was already out of control. West benefited from a dubious free kick to score their 8th goal, and when they goaled again the margin was only 24 points. North were still running the ball well, and a series of handballs finished with Hart who kicked truly for his 6th goal. Then Clisby gathered the ball at half back and was awarded a free and two 50 metre penalties to enable him to kick a rare goal. West replied, but more ill discipline saw Perkins awarded a 50 metre penalty and his kick went deep into the goalsquare where Hamilton took a great mark running the wrong way. His goal was the last of the quarter, as North kept attacking but added only points.

North dominated from the outset in the last quarter. Great pressure from Marshall forced a defensive error, which enabled him to gather and handball to Hart who brought up his 7th goal. Six consecutive points followed as North attacked incessantly, before Parsons gathered the ball on the boundary line, dummied a handball, dodged around a player and slotted a magical goal. The game had slipped from West's grasp and two more pieces of ill-discipline resulted in a free downfield and Burton converted. Three more points followed before Sanders kicked a lovely long goal. West finally got into the action, but another long goal, this time from Parsons, restored North's advantage. Burton marked just before the siren and duly converted to blow the final margin out to 75 points.

Scores

North First - 5.4(34) Second - 11.9(75) Third - 15.12(102) Final - 21.22(148)

West First - 4.2(26) Second - 7.3(45) Third - 10.4(64) Final - 11.7(73)

2018

BACKGROUND

Michael Nunan finished his coaching career with North Adelaide in 1992 with a creditable 3rd position at the end of the minor round but a straight exit in the finals. The next 5 years saw mid-table finishes with finals in 1995 and 1997. But the following 6 years included 2 bottom and 3 second- bottom finishes and culminated in the appointment of Andrew Jarman as Coach from 2004 and immediate return to finals action.

Significant injuries late in 2006 resulted in a loss in the preliminary final by an agonising 7 points but in 2007 the Club reached the Grand Final for the first time in 16 years, only to lose to Central Districts. The Club slipped to 7th position in 2008, was 5th in 2009 and 7th again in 2010 before appointing Josh Francou as Coach from 2011. Although the Club finished 9th in 2011, it lost 8 matches by 12 points or less. 2012 saw a return to finals action finishing in a loss in the preliminary final. In 2013 North were a force, at one stage sitting in second position with an 11-4 record before losing its last 5 games and finishing 5th. An exciting finals campaign saw North win 3 finals to again reach the Grand Final. However, injuries in the preliminary final cost the team and it was unable to win the big one.

Francou’s departure to the AFL system saw the team slide to 6th position in 2014 and then bottom again in 2015 with just 1 win. Josh Carr took over as Coach in 2016 but there was only marginal improvement with 4 wins, followed by yet another bottom finish in 2017.

Some high quality recruits gave some optimism for 2018 but a thrashing by Central Districts in the first game of the season had many supporters thinking nothing had changed. An impressive performance the following week gave hope, and as the season unfolded North were sitting on top of the ladder after 11 rounds with a 9-2 record. A slump in the latter part of the year, with only 2 wins in 7 matches, left North in 5th position at the end of the minor round.

The Roosters defeated South in the elimination final in a match which see-sawed all day, and ran over Sturt in a commanding performance in the first semi-final. Down by 47 points against the Eagles in the third quarter, North exploded, kicking 13 of the next 14 goals to turn the match on its head. Just as in 2013 when North also came from 5th position, its opponent would be Norwood who were red hot favourites.

North and Norwood also competed for the Reserves premiership and North prevailed by 24 points. Was this an omen?

PREMIERSHIP TEAM

Forwards: R. J. Young A. P. Barns M. J. Harvey

Half-forwards: B. L. Woodcock K. G. Ramsey L. K. Hender

Centres: M. H. D. Olekalns A. T. Tropiano J. S. Allmond

Half-backs: C. Rozee T. J. Smith B. A. Castree

Backs: C. S. N. Wilkie C. L. Craig M. A. Clisby

Followers: J. R. Sweet T. J. Schwarz M. P. Thring

Reserves: S. J. McInerney M. T. Slee J. T. Wohling

(Coach : J. J. Carr ; Captain : M.P. Thring)

THE GRAND FINAL

Miracles do happen

North won the toss and kicked to the Southern End of Adelaide Oval on a perfect day for football. From the first bounce, Tropiano cleared from centre and Harvey took a strong contested mark inside 50. His conversion meant North’s first goal came at the 40 second mark! Barns goaled at the 5 minute mark after a strong mark and some great work in defence from Rozee set up a goal to Woodcock after a clever tap from Barns. North had the first 3 goals on the board after only 7 minutes.

The game tightened up over the middle period of the term as Norwood was working hard to get into the game. Turnovers were starting to hurt North and Norwood created repeat inside 50 entries, eventually kicking their opening goal with almost 17 minutes played. North got a quick reply after some great ball movement resulted in a superb pass to Jordon Sweet who converted. Norwood’s persistence was beginning to pay dividends as they scrambled the next goal. They went into attack again from the centre bounce but a courageous mark in defence by Castree set up a chain of handballs which gave Robbie Young the opportunity to run the ball into attack. His hard running saw him mark inside 50 and convert for his first goal.

Norwood hit back with a goal deep into time-on, leaving North holding a 5 point lead at the first break.

A dubious down-field free kick gifted a goal to Norwood early in the second term and they were in front for the first time in the match. At this point of the game the free kick tally was 9-1 in Norwood’s favour. North quickly regained the lead when excellent pressure enabled Ramsey to kick truly. North’s tackling was ferocious but a poor turnover in defence gave Norwood an easy goal and the lead once more. Harvey took a strong mark directly in front but missed. However, a mis-directed kick-in rolled out of bounds without being touched and Woodcock kicked truly from the resultant free kick and the lead had changed hands again.

Mitch Grigg stamped his authority on the game with the next two goals for Norwood which stretched their lead to 7 points. But North refused to give in, reducing the gap to just 1 point as McInerney kicked his first goal with a great snap. A terrific scrambled goal to Barns saw North regain the lead and at half time North again had a 5 point lead.

North were straight out of the blocks again in the second half, with good pressure creating an opportunity for Woodcock who soccered his 3rd goal with just a minute on the clock. Norwood got the next goal and yet again the margin was 5 points. An excellent juggled mark by Harvey and 2nd goal from long range increased the lead but, somewhat against the play, Grigg goaled again. Great ball movement out of defence saw Wilkie take a few bounces on the outer wing and kick his first goal. Again Norwood replied but North were responding to every challenge. A great spoil by Sweet from a kick-in enabled Clisby to find Hender on the lead and he converted.

North controlled the play with some excellent pressure for the next few minutes but could not extend the lead. Grigg kicked yet another goal but North took the ball out of the next centre bounce and Harvey roved the ball and snapped his 3rd goal. Norwood scored another goal just before the siren and at three quarter time the margin was again 5 points.

The last quarter started at frenetic pace, with North’s tackling putting great pressure on Norwood. Several frees could have been paid in this period but North’s work went unrewarded until Hender got clear and snapped a very good goal. Norwood went into attack twice but North’s defence was too strong and they brought the ball out to Barns who marked on the chest just forward of centre. He was thrown to the ground after marking in a brain-fade moment that gifted North a generous 25 metre penalty. Barns coolly slotted the goal and the margin was out to 17 points.

A point to Norwood followed by 2 points to North made the margin 18 points and when McInerney slotted a magnificent goal from the boundary to extend the margin to 4 goals it was beginning to look like a North Adelaide victory. Not to be outdone, Norwood hit back with two quick goals and it was game on again. A goal to Barns from a snap that got a dream bounce next to the goal square was followed by another goal to Norwood and again the margin was only 2 goals. But North went into attack again. Barns nearly took a juggled mark and Thring threw himself at the ball and got it to McInerney who sent the Red and White Army into raptures with his 3rd goal as 30 minutes passed. Tropiano then kicked a point with just seconds remaining. Not long after the kick-in, the final siren sounded to end a 27 year long premiership drought for North Adelaide. Against the odds, North had achieved the seemingly impossible!

ICONS OF THE CLUB

KEN FARMER AND BARRIE ROBRAN

Ken Farmer - The Bradman of Goalkickers: In the summer of 1928-29, a young Don Bradman made his debut for Australia in the first cricket test match of the season. Thus began an unparalleled career of run making in test cricket. A few months later a young Ken Farmer made his debut in the first league match of the 1929 season and this debut was the beginning of an unparalleled career of goal kicking in the SANFL. As regularly as Bradman would score centuries for Australia, Farmer would kick a century of goals in a season for North Adelaide.

KEN FARMER

Ken Farmer Profile - The Bradman of Goalkickers

In the summer of 1928-29, a young Don Bradman made his debut for Australia in the first cricket test match of the season. Thus began an unparalleled career of run making in test cricket. A few months later a young Ken Farmer made his debut in the first league match of the 1929 season and this debut was the beginning of an unparalleled career of goal kicking in the SANFL. As regularly as Bradman would score centuries for Australia, Farmer would kick a century of goals in a season for North Adelaide.

The Farmer Kicking Style - His 1,000th goal

Kenneth William George Farmer was born in Adelaide on 25 July 1910. He was introduced to Australian Rules football when some friends who were having a kick in the North Adelaide parklands asked him to join them and he discovered that he was able to mark the ball well – so much so that he ended up by himself at one end! He attended North Adelaide school, where he played Australian Rules football on Friday night and soccer on Saturday. He won many trophies for his athletic prowess and was selected in the State Schoolboys soccer team. By his own admission, however, he had difficulty in keeping his place in the school Australian Rules team. Ken left school at the age of 14 and didn't play soccer or football for the next two years. But he loved football, so in 1927 he formed and captained a Second eighteen team for North Adelaide Ramblers. He played 7 games for the Ramblers Seconds (mainly as a ruckman) and was best on ground each time. He knew that staying there would not get him far, so in mid-season he joined the amateur team at Marryatville where he played centre half forward for 10 matches and picked up valuable experience. In 1928 he was invited to join the North Adelaide juniors (then known as the "B Club"). He was best on ground in his first game, kicking 6 goals and impressing scribes with his marking ability. He played most of the season at centre half forward, kicking 47 goals in 11 matches. North won the "B" premiership and Ken Farmer won the award for Best Junior Player. No doubt his effort in that first game, presumably at full forward, was significant in him being placed at full forward when he began his league career.

In his first league season in 1929, Farmer scored 62 goals. This was a very good effort when one considers that he only played 14 games for the season and that he was inaccurate with his shooting for goal. It was the last time, though, that Farmer was ever going to be inaccurate. In the next 11 seasons he scored a century of goals every season (having been the first player to ever reach that milestone) and completed his career with a total of 1419 goals from 224 games, thus being the highest goal scorer in the history of league football, a record that stands to this day. No player has approached his average of 6.33 goals per game. Nor have they got near his record of 35 bags of 10 goals or more. In his second season (1930) he was a star, kicking 57 goals in the first 12 games. With only 17 minor round games in that season, there was never any thought of him reaching 100 at that stage. But he kicked 44 goals in the next 4 matches, including 15 against South in the penultimate round, to become the first SANFL player to kick 100 goals. Tragically, he and his younger brother Elliot were involved in a collision between their motor cycle and a truck in Frome Street near the zoo on The North Adelaide Football Club the following Friday. Ken injured an ankle but Elliott, who was the driver, sustained severe head injuries and died soon afterwards. They were taking home a box which was to be used to house the many trophies awarded to Ken in recognition of his athletic prowess. Ken carried the box on the pillion and it was this box which saved him from serious injury. Ken announced that he would not play football again that season.

North finished minor premiers that year, but without Farmer they were well beaten in their first final.

Luckily he returned for the Grand Final and helped North to a thrilling win.

The following year (1931) saw Farmer average 7 goals a match almost from the outset and as the season unfolded there was growing speculation that he might even break Gordon Coventry's (Collingwood) record of 124. As it turned out, he kicked his 125th goal in the Grand Final ! It was reported that this goal "provoked a tremendous outburst of enthusiasm unparalleled in the history of the game". It is of interest to note that Ken Farmer failed to score a goal in a game only once in his fabulous career. It was nothing to do with form or being beaten. He left the field injured early in the first quarter!

In the 1934 season, Farmer had kicked 93 goals with only one game remaining. When it transpired that the final game would be played in very wet conditions, it seemed unlikely that he could reach the ton. He kicked 13 goals from 16 shots with a sodden ball! Typical of the accolades he received is this excerpt from "The Mail" in 1935: "Farmer could do practically nothing wrong. Although he met with stiff opposition from South defenders and was watched very closely, he was able to bring down marks with wonderful grace and ease, and his shooting was phenomenal. At least half his goals were from difficult angles and several were from seemingly impossible positions"

The 1940 season was perhaps the most memorable of his illustrious career. On July 6 of that year at Prospect Oval, Farmer kicked a staggering 23.6 out of North's tally of 26.11 (Torrens scored 8.14). During the year Farmer also became the first North Adelaide player to play 200 games and he reached 1,333 goals, thus breaking Gordon Coventry's record of 1,299.

Bos Daly congratulates Farmer on equalling his record of 23 goals in one match

Farmer's goal scoring exploits weren't limited to league football though. He played for South Australia ten times against Victoria. In teams that were usually defeated soundly, Farmer scored fifty goals - thus averaging 5 goals per game. Furthermore, Victoria's full back for most of this time was Jack Regan, the "king of full backs". Imagine the chagrin of all veteran South Australian football supporters when the inaugural Hall of Fame was setup. Regan was a member but Ken Farmer wasn't. Luckily the AFL saw the error of their ways and Ken Farmer was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in 1998.

What made Farmer such a phenomenon? Firstly there was his uncanny goal sense. After his first year when he scored nearly as many points as goals, he averaged four goals from every five shots. Yet when questioned in later life as to any areas of the game he could have improved upon Ken stated that he wished that the drop punt had been invented when he was playing. He believed he could have been even more accurate if this modern kick had been in vogue instead of having to rely on screw and flat punts. Additionally Ken had incredibly strong hands. Legend has it that at training he would hold the ball in one hand and dare the other players to punch the ball away. They couldn't. His marking was considered as graceful as it was strong. The late Don McInnes, a team mate of Ken throughout most of his career said "Ken had immensely strong fingers and was a great mark, something which has not been stressed. He was a man who loved breaking records.

But Ken Farmer's exploits weren't limited simply to that of goalkicker. After his retirement he became coach of North Adelaide in 1949. In four years of coaching he led North to two premierships, once runner up and once fifth. In his final game as coach of North Adelaide they won the premiership by a record margin of 108 points, defeating Norwood 23 goals 15 behinds to 6 goals 9 behinds. Ken then retired from active participation with the North Adelaide Football Club but he remained a staunch supporter throughout his life. In the early days of television he was an interesting, homespun commentator on the World of Sport program and when North Adelaide made a run towards the 1963 grand final with a very young team, Ken was often seen around the club in an advisory capacity.

On the 9th November, 1980 the new Ken Farmer Gates on the eastern side of Prospect Oval were opened by the Mayor of Prospect in the presence of Ken and a number of his team mates. He passed away on 5 March 1982.

In May 1998 his son Milton accepted Ken's induction into the AFL Hall of Fame with a moving speech, stating that "as a forward my father was awesome and as a father I adored him".

Barrie Robran: There have been many champion footballers who have played our great game, but none better than the mercurial Barrie Robran. Robran had speed, agility, lightning reflexes, a magnificent leap and an uncanny ability to read the game better than those around him. Those who were lucky enough to see him play were awestruck by his brilliant performances and ability to profoundly influence the course of a game.

BARRIE ROBRAN

There have been many champion footballers who have played our great game, but none better than the mercurial Barrie Robran.

Robran had speed, agility, lightning reflexes, a magnificent leap and an uncanny ability to read the game better than those around him. Those who were lucky enough to see him play were awestruck by his brilliant performances and ability to profoundly influence the course of a game.

Recruited from North Whyalla, Barrie joined North primarily because he idolised Don Lindner. He debuted for North’s Seconds during the finals campaign of 1966, and left an indelible mark. The next year he made his senior debut at Unley Oval against Sturt and he stunned onlookers with his masterful display as he led North to victory. His debut season was so good (he shared North’s Best and Fairest with his hero Lindner and was third for the Magarey Medal) that it prompted League officials to subsequently introduce new awards to recognize outstanding new talent.

1967 Robran's First League Game at Unley, 1967

Robran dominated football in South Australia for the next six years, winning the Magarey Medal in 1968, 1970 and 1973, the Club's Best and Fairest award in each of those years (and for seven consecutive seasons in total) and numerous media football awards. He played a major role in North's premiership teams in 1971 and 1972. His best-on-ground performance in helping North to the Championship of Australia against Carlton in 1972 earned him many accolades in Victoria, and he resisted many overtures to play in that State. Robran was an automatic selection in South Australian State teams from his first season in league football.

Robran’s career was cruelly curtailed in 1974 during a State match when, captaining SA for the second time, he was hit late by Leigh Matthews and his knee buckled beneath him. He faced operations in hospitals in three States in the ensuing years but his agility had suffered greatly and it was only his enormous courage and desire to play the game he loved so much that allowed him to continue at all.

Robran's 200th Game at Prospect, 1980

The following detailed summary of Barrie's football career and life has been compiled by Bruce Pointon:

1960-64 Attended Whyalla Technical High School. School Prefect in 1964 (Leaving Honours). Played school and/or district football, cricket, basketball and table tennis. Also, participated in cross-country running and baseball. Member of North Whyalla U 17’s 1964 premiership side in Whyalla Football League. Also won premierships in Junior International Rules Basketball and B-Grade Table Tennis.

1965 Commenced work with BHP ‘Steel division’ as a Junior Clerk in the Cost Accounting Department. At age 17, played ‘A’ Grade football for North Whyalla ‘Magpies’ in the Spencer Gulf League. Played ‘A’ Grade cricket for NWCC season 1965-66.

1966 Played in four pre-season trials for North Adelaide FC. Played for NWFC during season including the SGL Grand Final. In September, played centre for North Adelaide Seconds at Adelaide Oval in both Second Semi-final and Preliminary Final; NA lost both matches but Barrie played very well. Member of the North Whyalla Cricket Club’s ‘A’ Grade premiership side for 1966/67 season.

1967 Moved to Adelaide in January; entered Wattle Park Teachers’ College; boarded with Harley & Ivy Hammond (Bob’s parents). Left WPTC. Employed by British Tube Mills (Bundy Tubing) in Sales/Personnel Section. Made outstanding League debut along with Dennis Sachse vs Sturt @ Unley. First game with ‘hero’ Don Lindner. Played 18 minor round games + 2 Finals. Tied with Don Lindner (but lost on count-back) for the NAFC Best & Fairest (awarded retrospectively in 2003). 3rd in Magarey Medal, 1 vote behind T. Obst & Lindner (tied). Selected in SA State team and in Advertiser ‘Team of the Year’.

1968 Increased disposals from 312 in ’67 to 576 in ’68. Won NAFC ‘Fairest & Most Brilliant’. SANFL Magarey Medallist. Awarded Mr J.W. Forrester’s President’s Trophy, the H.G. Stock Memorial Medal, the H.C. Nitschke Memorial Trophy and the Harold MacFarlane North Adelaide ‘Player of the Year’ award. Numerous media awards including Channel 7 ‘Footballer of the Year’ award. Member of the SA State Team & the Advertiser ‘Team of the Year’.

1969 Employed at Featherston Interiors, Norwood. Averaged 29 disposals and 9 marks per game for the season. NAFC ‘Fairest & Most Brilliant’. Equal 3rd in Magarey Medal. Played in S.A. team in National Carnival in Adelaide. Won The Advertiser Trophy, the News-Ampol Trophy, Channel 7 ‘Footballer of the Year’ award and selected in Advertiser ‘Team of the Year’.

1970 Married Taimi Vestel at the Enfield Methodist Church in January. Father passed away. Brother Rodney played rounds 1, 2 & 7 for NAFC. Kicked 8-0 in round 5. Won Club ‘Fairest & Most Brilliant’ and 2nd Magarey Medal. Also, Channel 7’s ‘Footballer of the Year’ for the 3rd successive year – three cars in three years! Member of SA State team. Selected in Advertiser ‘Team of the Year’.

1971 First child Matthew born 19 March – a wonderful omen for Barrie’s season. Rodney playing full-time for North. Suffered serious eye injury in round 8 match. Averaged 29 disposals and 9 marks per game. Achieved personal goal of playing in a NAFC League Premiership team (victory over Port Adelaide). Rodney missed finals through injury. NAFC Awards: Club ‘Fairest and Most Brilliant’, H.G. Stock Memorial medal + ‘Player of the Year’ and ‘Best Player in the Finals’ trophies. For NAFC’s ‘F&MB’ award, Barrie polled the amazing total of 78 votes & won from Von Bertouch (50) & Jaworskyj (43). Awarded South Australian Sports Star Award for October. Selected in Advertiser ‘Team of the Year’.

1972 Round 2 vs Sturt played 100th game for NAFC. Member of NAFC League Premiership team (victory over Port Adelaide). Brother Rodney also in the victorious side. Member Champions of Aust NAFC team with victory over Carlton. NAFC ‘Fairest and Most Brilliant’. Selected in Advertiser ‘Team of the Year’. Second son Jonathon born on 21 October 1972. News-Caltex Sports Star of the Month in same month. Member, Australian ‘All-Stars’ team that played exhibition games in London, Athens & Singapore against VFL Premiers Carlton.

1973 Ave kicks per game had increased from 17.5 per game in 1967 to 20.2 in ‘73. Ave handballs ’67 = 3.3 per game; ’73 = 9.9 per game. Ave hit-outs 1972-73 = 6.7 per game. In Rounds 10 & 11 Barrie had a total of 91 disposals and took a total of 25 marks. Won NAFC ‘Fairest & Most Brilliant’. Won 3rd Magarey Medal for ‘Fairest & Most Brilliant’ player in SANFL. Selected in Advertiser ‘Team of the Year’.

1974 Appointed captain North Adelaide League team. Member of North side in first game at Football Park vs Central District. State Captain (2 games). SA (winner) vs WA game was first state match played at Football Park. Rated best for North six times + 2nd + 3rd out of first eight games before career-altering, serious knee injury on June 2nd vs Victoria on SCG. 2nd Best Player (to Barry Stringer) in NAFC B&F count. 3rd in Magarey Medal with 15 votes, despite missing 10 games - top NAFC player in MM count. Selected in Advertiser ‘Team of the Year’. End-of-season knee operation.

1976 Captain. Sponsored as a NA player by the ‘House of Lindner’. Missed 8 games. Kicked 6-1 in Round 5. Achieved ‘Player Life Member of SANFL’ & ‘Life Member of North Adelaide Football Club’.

1977 Captain. Didn’t play any league games due to operations and rehabilitation.

1978 Coach of NAFC League team. Bohdan Jaworskyj was assistant League and Reserves coach but also played in league team. Captain until acting-captain Barry Stringer appointed captain during season. Barrie played 9 games. League side finished bottom.

1979 Re-appointed for a second year as League coach with Bob Bussenschutt as assistant. Played only 5 games – rounds 17-21. North Adelaide finished 6th.

1980 Coached league side for a third season. Brother, Rodney, appointed captain. Barrie played 3 games for season. Superb performance in round 8 vs Norwood – 37 disposals, 11 marks & 7 hit-outs. In round 10, played his 200th game for the North Adelaide Football Club at Prospect Oval on 7 June 1980. The following week against Glenelg, also at Prospect, he played his last league game. Retired as a player after 201 games for North Adelaide. Retired as coach at end of season – 66 matches. North finished 8th.

1981 Awarded ‘Member of the British Empire’* Medal and Certificate from Queen Elizabeth II on 31 Dec 1981. (*An Imperial award before the Order of Australia was instituted.) The public announcement was made on New Year’s Day

1982. Rodney re-appointed captain but resigned at end of season. 1982 Barrie appointed U19’s coach & Bob Bussenschutt as U17’s coach. One year only. Barrie Robran MBE opened the new Whyalla City Plaza on 27 March in front of 8,000 people.

1983 Barrie played for Walkerville FC in SAFA under Maurie Francou as coach. Suffered three bad injuries; played only eight games for year. Broken ankle ended his playing career.

1984 Another operation on his troublesome knee.

1985 Sons Matthew 14 and Jonathon 12 play football for Walkerville and are promising tennis players.

2000 Selected as a member of North Adelaide’s Team of the Century. Awarded a ‘Year 2000 Australian Sports Medal’ by the Australian Federal Government. Received retrospective Whyalla News Medal for 1966 – tied with Darrol Foote.

2001 May: Became 17th ‘Legend’ in the Australian Hall of Fame and first legend without VFL or AFL experience. Matthew and Jonathon receive award in Melbourne as Barrie and Taimi were in Alaska & Canada. Awarded a plaque for being included in the prestigious The Advertiser Golden Jubilee Team for the period 1951 – 2001. Commenced part-time work at North Adelaide Football Club as Membership Development Manager. Role has changed since.

2002 Inducted to the SA Football Hall of Fame. Announced as being a member of the North Whyalla ‘Team of the Century’ and was awarded a commemorative medal.

2003 Whyalla News, Monday, 24 March 2003: Moggy Flavel, John Trezise & Barrie opened the renovations to the North Whyalla Football Clubrooms.

‘Rarely, if ever, has SA seen the brilliance in football of Barrie Robran.. But when you couple his brilliance and fairness with his discipline, creativeness and team sense you see the totality of the problem through the eyes of an opposition coach. Put Barrie in any side and it immediately becomes a major round contender as his ability to create openings raises many team-mates to a new level.’

Fos Williams (Port Adelaide and State player and coach).

‘Barrie Robran was definitely the best player I have ever seen or played against.’

** A Colts League was formed in 1936, the equivalent of an Under 17 competition. From 1936 to 1938 the Best and Fairest player in the Colts was awarded the O’Halloran Medal. In 1939 the Colts became an Under 18 competition (often referred to as the Senior Colts) and a Junior Colts competition was introduced. The Best and Fairest player in the Senior Colts was then awarded the Tomkins Medal and the Best and Fairest player in the Junior Colts was awarded the O’Halloran Medal.

SANFL records now record Alan Telfer being awarded the Tomkins Medal and Ken Logan the McCallum medal but strictly speaking they both won the O'Halloran Medal, albeit for different competitions.

McCallum / Tomkins Medallists (Under 18 ) since 2009

2014 Jonathon David HAYES

2016 Dakota Daynton NIXON

2017 Boyd Liam WOODCOCK

TEAM OF THE CENTURY

The North Adelaide Football Club has a long and proud history, dating from its establishment in 1893. The main thing which sets North apart from its rivals is that it has arguably produced more exceptional footballers than any other Club. As the 20th century drew to a close, the Club decided to honour those champions by selecting a "Team of the Century".

The Club established a Committee in 1999 to undertake the task of selecting this team. This "selection committee" comprised Colin Walsh (Chairman), Don Lindner, Tom McKenzie, Jeff Pash, Barrie Robran and Gordon Schwartz. Each member provided a list of candidates for each position and the Committee then set about the arduous task of selecting the final team. The selected team was formally announced at a gala dinner held on 7 October 2000.

TEAM OF THE CENTURY

BACKGROUND

The North Adelaide Football Club has a long and proud history, dating from its establishment in 1893. The main thing which sets North apart from its rivals is that it has arguably produced more exceptional footballers than any other Club. As the 20th century drew to a close, the Club decided to honour those champions by selecting a "Team of the Century".

The Club established a Committee in 1999 to undertake the task of selecting this team. This "selection committee" comprised Colin Walsh (Chairman), Don Lindner, Tom McKenzie, Jeff Pash, Barrie Robran and Gordon Schwartz. Each member provided a list of candidates for each position and the Committee then set about the arduous task of selecting the final team. The selected team was formally announced at a gala dinner held on 7 October 2000.

While much healthy discussion has been generated about the final selections, and in particular some of the players who missed out, no-one could disagree that everyone in the team deserves recognition as a legend of the Club.

Due to the incredible interest generated by the announcement of this team, the History Committee decided to produce a book to give all supporters a close-up of the members of the team. Copies of this widely acclaimed book, "North Adelaide's Greatest", are available from the Club. See Merchandise for further details.

Mick Redden

Darren Jarman

Brenton Phillips

The Second “Sticks”
Wing; 222 games between 1981 & 1998; Magarey Medallist 1993

Mike Patterson

The Inspirational Coach
Coach 1970 – 77; 2 premierships 1971, 1972

MOST WANTED:

INFORMATION ABOUT OUR EARLY YEARS

The History Committee, primarily through the efforts of David O'Hara, has painstakingly compiled and checked information on every game the Club has played since its elevation, as Medindie, to the SAFA in 1888, with lists of the players who represented the Club in each game. This information is complete from 1900 but unfortunately there are a number of gaps in the years 1888 - 1899, particularly in relation to the playing lists. If anyone has any material, or any leads on possible information sources covering those years, we would dearly love to hear from you!

NAFC Team Photos

The History Committee has completed an audit of team photos from its collection. There are many years for which we do not have a team photo, and we are appealing to our supporters to see if they can help fill in some of the gaps. We need original photos, not newspaper photos or posters. We only need to borrow a photograph to digitally scan it - if you can help with any of the following years, please contact Barry Dolman on 0431 810 185.

SNAPSHOTS

A Remarkable Story and a Remarkable Man - Percy Russell
The story of a humble man who excelled in his work, his sporting life and on the battlefields of France during World War I... Click to continue

A promising sporting career cut short on the battlefields of Europe - Reginald Hogben
Reginald Stanley (Reg) Hogben - in 1940 captained the North Adelaide Senior Colts and won both the Club's best and fairest award and the SANFL Tomkins medal for “fairest and most brilliant” player... Click to continue

The Greatest Winning Streak
For some years now records have indicated that North Adelaide’s greatest winning run was 12 straight wins during the 1952 season...

Bob Hage
Bob Hage (pronounced Hargy) will always be remembered as one of the best footballers Renmark ever produced. Click to continue

Medindie Football Club - A Brief History
North Adelaide's long history can be traced directly back to the formation of the Medindie Football Club. Medindie was formed in 1881 when a group of College students... Click to continue

North's First Captain
Jim Besley is not a name that would be familiar to many North Adelaide fans, but as he was the club’s first Captain and Interstate Representative it is a name that should be remembered. Click to continue

1920 Premiership Flag
Anyone who has visited our fantastic Legends Room will no doubt be familiar with the photo... Click to continue

Prospect Oval Background
Monday, August 23rd 1897 - At a meeting of The Prospect Council a petition signed by 350 ratepayers was presented to council... Click to continue

Who can remember this?
The following photo of the gates on the Eastern side of Prospect Oval was taken in 1923... Click to continue

NORTH'S FIRST CAPTAIN

Jim Besley is not a name that would be familiar to many North Adelaide fans, but as he was the club’s first Captain and Interstate Representative it is a name that should be remembered. The only issue is that the History Committee has not been able to determine with any certainty whether his surname is spelt "Beasly" or "Besley". A case can be made for both, with the former being used more often in the media of the time but the latter appearing on his birth record (which is not definitive as it would have been transcribed from a handwritten certificate). If there are any relatives of Jim’s who can shed some light on this, we would love to hear from you.

The first mention of Jim Besley turns up in match reports for Medindie from 1885, when Medindie were competing in the newly formed Junior Football Association. His name was to become a regular feature in that Association over the next few seasons and in fact his form was so impressive that at the start of the 1887 season when Medindie were competing in the Adelaide and Suburban Association he was elected Captain of the side with Arthur Brown as his deputy. Unfortunately for the ‘Dindies his form was so good it got the attention of South Adelaide (a league club in the SAFA) and he joined them. This was common practice in those days - that a player from a “junior” club would join a “senior” club. Besley spent the 1887, 1888 and 1889 seasons with South before re-joining Medindie who were by now a “senior” club also having joined the SAFA in 1888. Besley’s form on returning was something of a godsend to Medindie who were struggling somewhat. In fact his form was so good that during the season he was named in a combined team (from Adelaide, Medindie and Gawler) that took on Geelong in an Intercolonial match. At the end of the season “The Advertiser” named him as Medindie’s second best player (after Arthur Brown). After another good season in 1891 he again earned high praise from the daily papers as being close to Medindie’s best. Besley played on “half left wing back” during the 1892 season for “The Dingoes” (Medindie) and not only earned the usual kudos from the daily papers but was also presented with a trophy as Medindie’s best backman at the club’s AGM. That same AGM saw Medindie officially change its name from Medindie to North Adelaide. When the red and whites ran out for their first game under the name North Adelaide (against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on the 6th May 1893) Jim Besley was their Captain. Besley was consistently named in North’s best players during the season, so much so that when the season was analysed by “Goalpost” in “The Register” he was acclaimed as “their best man” and “a player with a rare turn of speed”. The first North team to be published in the dailies showing their positions was for the 24th May clash against Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval (the first in a holiday double header). Besley was named as full back, and also was high in the best players in what was North’s first ever win (4goals 8 behinds to Adelaide’s 3 goals 2 behinds). He was named North’s Captain again in 1894 and his good form continued, so much so that when the South Australian team for the match against Victoria was picked he was named in the backline. The match was the thirteenth between the states and resulted in a resounding victory to the Victorians (13.15 to 0.6). However Besley was mentioned in the match report as being “a prominent defender”. After the state match his good form continued, and at the end of the season “The Register” again named him as the side’s best player. Besley continued playing with North in 1895 and 1896 (despite no longer being Captain) and was regularly named in the side’s best players. He retired from league football at the end of the 1896 season. Nick Haines History Committee.

BOB HAGE

Bob Hage (pronounced Hargy) will always be remembered as one of the best footballers Renmark ever produced. A mark of the esteem in which he was held is demonstrated by the many phone calls received by the NAFC from Renmark residents following his recent passing, enquiring about his short career with our Club.

Bob played 10 games for the North Adelaide Football Club in 1956, traveling from Renmark to Adelaide each time. Often accompanied by a couple of mates in his red sports car, apparently the trip home often took much longer than the trip down, especially if the Roosters had won! He was selected for an 11th game in Round 17 that year but his car broke down and he didn’t make it. Apparently, he and some mates had to wait in the Truro pub most of the day while the car was repaired.

He resumed playing in Renmark in 1957 and was best on ground in two grand finals – a losing one in 1957 and a premiership under John Croft in 1959. Richmond was keen to get him to Melbourne at one stage, but home was where the heart was. Bob was 75 when he passed away in February 2008. The NAFC conveys its condolences to his family and many friends.

MEDINDIE FOOTBALL CLUB

A BRIEF HISTORY

by Nick Haines

Established - 1881

Joined South Australian Junior Football Association - 1885

Joined Adelaide and Suburban Association - 1886

Joined South Australian Football Association - 1888

Changed name to North Adelaide - 1893

North Adelaide's long history can be traced directly back to the formation of the Medindie Football Club. Medindie was formed in 1881 when a group of College students (from Prince Alfred College and the now defunct Whinham College) formed a team to play some football matches in the nearby parklands. It's believed they originally played on the parklands north-east of North Adelaide (between North Adelaide and Medindie), before later playing closer to the city (near the site of the current Adelaide University Oval). They took their colours from Prince Alfred College and wore a strip not dissimilar to the one that Prince's football team wore.

The Medindie squad in 1888

Medindie spent the first four years of its existence playing against other clubs that weren't involved in an organised competition. Amongst these clubs were Prince Alfred College, St Peter's College, Commercial College, Walkerville, Triton, North Parks, Creswick and Semaphore.

In March 1885 the South Australian Junior Football Association was formed, with Medindie as one of the founding members. They were reasonably successful in their first season, finishing fourth of nine teams.

Their first captain, Charles Nitschke, was to go on and have a lifetime association with the North Adelaide Football Club. John Reedman (who was to be one of the greatest names in South Australian football at the turn of last century and a future dual premiership captain at North Adelaide) began playing for Medindie in 1885.

In 1886 Medindie was promoted to the Adelaide and Suburban Association, and spent the next two seasons playing in that competition.

In 1887 Medindie's captain was Jim Besley who would join ‘senior club' South Adelaide during the season. His vice-captain Arthur Brown took the reins of captaincy for the rest of the season. Besley returned to Medindie in 1890, and became North Adelaide's first captain with Brown vice-captain in 1893.

At the end of the 1887 season football in South Australia was in the midst of a crisis. The clubs competing in the competition were (in order of finish that year) Norwood, Port, Adelaide, South, Hotham, and Gawler, with the newly established West finishing last. Due to an ongoing dispute about the use of grounds (amongst other things) the association was split into two groups.

Norwood, Gawler and North Adelaide (who had changed their name from Hotham) formed one group whilst South Adelaide, Adelaide (who had swallowed up the weaker West after only one season) and Port Adelaide formed the other. Medindie (despite its junior status), was invited to join the latter group, with the plan being to have four teams competing against each other.

Medindie's sudden elevation is something of a mystery as it wasn't the strongest club in the Adelaide and Suburban Association, having failed to make the final in both seasons. It is believed that Port Adelaide was behind them being invited to join their group.

At the eleventh hour, just prior to the start of the 1888 season, a meeting was held in an attempt to reconcile the opposing parties. This meeting took place in the Town Hall Exchange-room on the evening of Saturday the 5th of May, the day that the football season would normally have commenced.

Such was the seriousness of the situation concerning the split that Medindie (being the ‘junior' club) had even offered to resign from the association if it would bring about a solution. However, due to the efforts of a Mr A.J Roberts of the Norwood F.C, liaising with delegates from Port and South, an amicable arrangement was agreed upon by evening's end with Norwood, Gawler and North Adelaide being invited to join the ‘new' association. Thus Medindie's generous offer did not need to be accepted.

When the 1888 league season finally got started a week later than usual on Saturday 12th May Medindie was scheduled something of a baptism of fire having to play Port Adelaide on their home ground of Alberton Oval first up. Arthur Brown captained that first Medindie side but Port Adelaide (not surprisingly, being the ‘senior' club) won the day with the final score seeing Port 3 goals 8 behinds defeat Medindie 3 behinds. Sellars and Arthur Brown were named Medindie's best.

In their opening games of 1888 both Medindie and North Adelaide had taken the field in red-and-white uniforms.

On the Thursday night after their debut game (May 17th) at a meeting of the Association the issue of the similarity of colours between the two clubs was raised. As they would be playing each other on May 26th a solution was needed to avoid the clashing of colours. It was decided that Medindie would keep their guernseys and hose (socks) as red and white only, while North Adelaide would add a blue hoop to their red and white guernseys and wear blue and white hose.

The match between the two northern clubs took place on Saturday 26th May on Kensington Oval. Like the previous match about 100 people attended, but unlike in the previous match the weather was perfect. The final result stood at North 5 goals 14 behinds to Medindie's four behinds.

PAC in 1881 - photograph courtesy of the State Library of SA

Medindie finished last in 1888 and prior to the start of the 1889 season it was widely believed that North Adelaide (who had seemingly self destructed as 1888 had gone on) would merge with them.

At North Adelaide's Annual General Meeting on March 13th 1889 it was announced that officials from the club would meet with officials from Medindie to discuss a proposed amalgamation. As they say a week is a long time in football and on March 25th 1889 the daily papers reported an amalgamation instead of the Adelaide and North Adelaide clubs, to be known as Adelaide.

Medindie went on to lose all 15 senior matches in 1889 and naturally finished last (out of six teams). In 1890 Medindie struggled through another season losing all their matches to the senior teams but they did manage two wins and a draw against the weakening Gawler team.

With five teams competing in the SAFA in 1891 (South, Port, Norwood, Adelaide and Medindie), each team played each other 4 times. Medindie won all four matches against Adelaide but still couldn't crack a win against a leading side.

The 1892 season proved to be a case of something similar for Medindie, with three wins and one draw to their credit, and all against Adelaide. At the end of the season there was talk of changing the name of the club to North Adelaide in the hope that this might bring about a change of fortune, and garner more support from the area. Some (including a high profile but unnamed supporter) objected to this, feeling that a "loss of identity" could result from dropping the name of the suburb and replacing it with that of the area. Also, the fact that the two previous North Adelaide clubs to have competed in the SAFA had disappeared rather quickly wouldn't have helped.

The name change, however, was agreed, and was officially announced at the General Meeting held at the Temperance Hall on Tynte St, North Adelaide on Thursday March 23rd 1893. It was formally accepted by the SAFA at their meeting on Wednesday April 5th 1893. And thus the Medindie Football Club ceased to be, and the North Adelaide Football Club, which still plays today, came into being.

It is worth noting also that during Medindie's time competition in the SAFA it was often referred to by the nickname ‘The Dingoes'. However once North Adelaide came into being no more references to this nickname are made.

1920 PREMIERSHIP FLAG

Anyone who has visited our fantastic Legends Room will no doubt be familiar with the photo below, but there is a much richer story associated with the day it was presented.

1920 Premiership As was common practice at the time, many honour rolls were erected to troops that had fought in The Great War. North Adelaide also did this and it was noted in the 1920 Annual Report that….

“A most handsome Roll of Honor, made of cedar, containing the names of those players – 1913, 1914, and 1915 – who enlisted in the Great War, is to be unveiled at the Adelaide Oval on our opening day.”

The opening round of 1921 was on the holiday Monday of May 9th against Sturt at the Adelaide Oval (North’s home ground at the time). As “The Register” on Tuesday the 10th of May reported…

“Immediately prior to the opening of the match, a war honour roll in connection with the North Adelaide Club was unveiled by the Patron (Ald. L.Cohen), who congratulated those who had enlisted, and expressed sympathy with the relatives of those who paid the supreme sacrifice. Among those present were the secretary of the league (Mr F. Marlow).The names on the board were players in 1913,1914 and 1915 and were as follows: - J.Ashhurst, R.G McKail, L.Sneyd, W.Barnes, C.Dayman, J.Earl, R.Foale, F.N Le Messurier, R.Perryman, G.P Pratten, L.Thomas, R.Nixon, F.Crossman, T.Sadlier and W.Hamilton. The three first names were killed in action. At the base of the board was the inscription: - “They played the game.” Trumpeter K.Looker sounded “the last post”.

During the long interval was presented the premiership pennant for 1920, in the South Australian sports colours of chocolate and blue, and bearing the lettering, “North Adelaide, 1920” . The Chairman of the League (Mr A.J.McLachlan), in handing the gift to Skipper T.Leahy, congratulated the members of the team on their success. Cheers were given for the reds, and Leahy responded.”

Missing that day from the premiership 18 that had won the 1920 flag were the following players… Lloyd Davies (out injured), Ivan Davey (who had since taken up the license at the Georgetown Hotel), Richard Foale and Daniel O’Brien (who had both retired).

As the article notes, North Adelaide lost three former players during the Great War. Ron McKail, who joined the club from St Peter’s College in 1907 and had captained the club in 1913, was killed in action at Pozieres in August 1916. John Ashhurst, who played 5 games in 1915, was killed in action in Belgium in July 1917. Leslie Sneyd joined the club in 1913 and had played 17 games. He was awarded the DCM for actions in France before he fell at Guedecourt in November 1916.

(NB: Of the players who enlisted, William Barnes, Clem Dayman, Clarrie Perryman and Lewis Foale also played after the war. Foale also played in the 1920 premiership team. Also note this was the first actual flag that North won as the practice had begun in 1907, and thus the 1900, 1902 and 1905 teams had missed out.)

Nick HainesHistory Committee

PROSPECT OVAL BACKGROUND

Monday, August 23rd 1897 - At a meeting of The Prospect Council a petition signed by 350 ratepayers was presented to council by Reverend S.Lenton to urge the establishing of a recreation ground in the Prospect area.

Council supported the decision and admitted the need for such a ground, advising that this matter had been under consideration for some two years. A committee was formed to look into suitable areas and call tenders for such.

Saturday, March 2nd 1898 - The ground was officially opened by the Premier (Charles Kingston) at a large ceremony including the attendance of some 1,500 school children from the local area.

The land was described as being situated on the flat between Pulsford Road and Alpha Road with entrances from Prospect Road and Main North Road, and boasting views to the hills on one side and overlooking the sea on the other.

The price paid was £1,600. £1,400 was obtained from the sale of limestone from the 16 ½ acres of ground, and £200 raised in subscriptions by local residents.

Saturday, May 20th 1916 – League football was suspended during World War One. A “Patriotic Competition” was formed and a team from Prospect was involved, playing their home matches on Prospect Oval. Prospect defeated Norwood (14-16 to 7-9) in their first outing, with North player Daniel O’Brien named best on ground. Gunn, May (8 Goals) and Crossman were also named in the best players. Prospect contested in 1916 and 1917 but pulled out during the 1918 season.

Saturday, March 25th 1922 - A newly completed pavilion (grandstand) was officially opened by the Governor (Sir William Ernest George Archibald Weigall). The pavilion had been completed in sixteen weeks at a cost of approximately £4,300. It contained seating for approximately 1,000 patrons and there was spacious room below for the training purposes of the club, and another for the visiting team. Other appointments included showers, lavatories, committee rooms, and all domestic appliances. It also contained an underground tunnel from which players could enter the arena.

It was also mentioned that the area had been officially named The Prospect Memorial Park and Recreation Reserve, as a memorial to the 126 men from the area that had lost their lives in the Great War. The oval was a 3d tram ride from the city taking either the Main North Road or Prospect Road tram!

Monday, May 8th 1922 - Prospect Oval hosted its first league football match when North defeated Glenelg by 25 points (12-11 to 9-4) on the Holiday Monday.

It was noted in the press that “The turf was in excellent condition, and the fine arena afforded ample scope for a fast, open contest.”

Victor Hillier of Glenelg scored the first goal for the game (with a place kick), and thus became the first player to kick a goal (in a league match) on Prospect Oval. Soon after Lloyd Davies drew first blood for North, with a snap out of the pack, and became the first North player to score a goal on Prospect Oval.

Percy Lewis captained North Adelaide for the first time and David Crawford was his deputy.

North Adelaide “B” played Norwood “B” in the curtain raiser. Daniel O’Brien captained the North “B” team.

North has used Prospect Oval as its home ground ever since that match, and has played there every season with the exception being the years 1942-1944 when the Norwood-North Adelaide combine of World War Two used Norwood Oval as its home ground.

WHO CAN REMEMBER THIS?

The following photo of the gates on the Eastern side of Prospect Oval was taken in 1923, just one year after North Adelaide adopted Prospect Oval as its home:

The current gates on that side of the ground were installed in 1980 and were named the Ken Farmer gates in honour of our legendary goalkicking genius and master coach. This picture was taken at the opening of the new gates and includes North Adelaide legends Harold Hawke, Ken Farmer and Ron Phillips:

Did the original gates survive until 1980, or were there other variations in between?

A REMARKABLE STORY

and Remarkable Man - Percy Russell

This is the story of a humble man who excelled in his work, his sporting life and on the battlefields of France during World War I.

Percy Lionel Russell was born in Collingwood, Victoria on 24 June 1887. His family came to South Australia when he was a young boy and settled in North Adelaide.

Percy commenced work with the Post Master General’s (PMG) Department as a messenger boy in 1902, eventually rising to be a Supervising Technician in the Engineering Branch of the Post Office until his retirement in 1949. He was awarded the King's Jubilee Medal in the New Year Honours of 1935 for Special Services to the Postal Department.

He played for the North Adelaide Football Club from 1906 to 1913, playing 25 League games and a large number of Reserves games, playing alongside such immortals as Alby Klose, Tom Leahy, Tom MacKenzie and Jack Reedman. Noted West ruckman Paddy Kearns always claimed that Percy Russell was the best follower he ever played against.

In 1909 Percy won the Reserves Magarey Medal playing for North Adelaide’s reserve side (known as “Prospect”) in the South Australian Football Association. Percy’s son, Alex, has this medal in his possession and was therefore able to demonstrate in 1988 that the belief, at that time, that the Reserves Magarey Medal had first been awarded in 1912, was incorrect. Recently, a reference to the award of the medal has been discovered in The Advertiser of 13 October 1909. It is the earliest recorded reference to the awarding of the Reserves Magarey Medal.

Percy also won the Best Improved Player award in 1906, Best All Round Player in 1907 and Most Improved Player award in 1910 at North Adelaide.

But it was on the battlefields in France where Percy’s character and courage really shone. He enlisted in the AIF on 21 June 1915 and was posted as a reinforcement to the 27th infantry Battalion. He soon found himself in the thick of the action in France.

His civilian job as a Telephone Inspector saw him transferred to the 2nd Division Signals Company and, as was all too common, he suffered wounds and disease. On the evening of 15 September 1917, a heavy artillery barrage cut all the telephone wires in the vicinity of Birr Cross Roads, near Ypres. Sgt Russell entered the barrage and, going from one break to another, repaired each one as he went and thus enabled communication to be restored. For his remarkable courage, he was awarded the Military Medal. Shortly afterwards he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant for gallantry.

In August 1918 near Villers-Bretonneux, he earned the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an attack. He was out day and night for 72 hours during heavy hostile area shoots, maintaining lines between group headquarters and the group's 12 batteries. His untiring efforts enabled the artillery to give the closest support to the infantry during their final assembly and ultimate successful advance.

Percy’s Military Cross was presented to him by King George V at Buckingham Palace. He was discharged at the end of World War I and returned to his civilian life in Adelaide and resumed working for the PMG.

Percy enlisted again in World War II and was Lt Col in command of the Post Office Guard.

The fact that Percy had so distinguished himself on the football and battle fields and in his working life puts him in elite company, something about which his son Alex is justifiably proud.

An interesting footnote to this story is that Percy’s great grandson, Jordan Russell, also excelled on the football field. He was drafted by Carlton from West Adelaide as pick number 9 in 2005 and went on to play 125 games for Carlton and Collingwood.

A PROMISING SPORTING CAREER

Cut Short on the Battlefields of Europe

Reginald Stanley (Reg) Hogben was born in 1923 in Solomontown, South Australia, which is now a suburb of Port Pirie. Around 1926, when he was still a young child, the family moved to Adelaide. However, they returned to Port Pirie in the 1930s, when the Great Depression deepened and work was hard to find. Reg commenced playing football with the Solomontown school team in the Junior Association and acquitted himself so brilliantly that he went straight from that grade to senior football with the Solomontown A grade side.

He showed distinct promise as a half back in that team, helping them to win the 1938 premiership. However, he left in 1939 to return to Adelaide to spend a year at Adelaide High School, in preparation for Teacher’s Training College. He played for the North Adelaide Colts team in 1939 and made a great impression. Ken Farmer was reported to have described him as the most improved junior to have come from the country.

In 1940 he captained the North Adelaide Senior Colts and won both the Club's best and fairest award and the SANFL Tomkins medal for “fairest and most brilliant” player in the Senior Colts. He played 11 games of league football in 1941 alongside the great Ken Farmer and was described in the Club's Annual Report as showing great promise. However, the Second World War was to intervene.

Reg became an Air Force reservist in 1941 and attended the Elementary Flying Training School at Parafield to undertake basic training in Tiger Moth Bi-planes. On 21 July 1941, he received his official call-up to the Royal Australian Air Force. He became a Flight Sergeant with the 460 Squadron, piloting Lancaster bomber LAN4325 in Europe.

In 1943, his aircraft was one of 17 which took off from RAF Breighton to attack the port and U-boat yards at Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland). Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Reg and his crew were initially listed as missing in action but after exhaustive investigation it was discovered that the Germans had recovered the bodies of two of the crew. The remaining five crew, including Reg, were never found. His parents endured many months of agony waiting for news of his fate.

Reg was only 20 years old. Although his body was never recovered, he is remembered with honour at the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey in the United Kingdom.

Recently, the Best and Fairest medal Reg won at North Adelaide in 1940 was donated to the Club by his great niece, Helen Thiselton.

PAST PLAYERS

This new section of the website is designed both to honour all of those players who have represented the North Adelaide Football Club at senior level and to support the activities of the Past Players and Officials Association.

Over the last few years, the History Committee has been endeavouring to compile accurate details of all the past players who have represented the Club at League or equivalent level and to maintain current contact details.

INTRODUCTION

Over the last few years, the History Committee has been endeavouring to compile accurate details of all the past players who have represented the Club at League or equivalent level and to maintain current contact details. This is no easy feat, as often all we have to go on from Annual Reports is a surname (sometimes misspelled!) and one initial. For that reason, and because we wanted to keep in touch with all surviving past players, we decided to concentrate in the first instance on those men who had played from 1945 onwards.

Building on a considerable foundation laid by David O’Hara, and with help from many individuals, We're pleased to report that this part of the task has been completed. We would particularly like to thank Brian Trout, Daryl Thomas and Mark Gilbert for the considerable assistance they have provided in this arduous journey.

A list of this group of past players is provided within this section of the website and we are now working painstakingly backwards to add the details of those who represented us prior to World War II. This will be even more difficult because in most cases we do not have the advantage of learning about each player from their former teammates. So, if you know details of players who represented the club prior to WW2, we would love to hear from you - please contact Barry Dolman on 0431 810 185 or bdolman@diversedata.com.au

We are aware of five players who played in this pre-WW2 era who are still alive and we are keen to find more. Our oldest surviving former player that we are aware of is Reg Causby who was born in 1917 and played in 1939.

Items of Interest

Tracing our past players
Now that the task of tracing all senior past players who represented the Club from 1945 onwards has been completed, we can provide the following statistics for you:
Total number who have represented the Club post WW2 – 762
Total surviving – 631 (82.8%)
Residing overseas – 11 (1.7%)
Residing interstate – 181 (28.7%)
Residing in SA – 439 (69.6%)
Those living interstate are well spread: QLD 28, NSW 24, ACT 5, VIC 84, TAS 2, NT 13 and WA 25

Wollomombi - where else?
Initially, there were hundreds of past players to trace and naturally the easiest (such as those who could be readily found in the white pages) were tackled first. As the number “missing” reduced, we began to focus attention on some of the more difficult cases while still working on the remainder of the list. An example of this approach were the 8 players who had represented us in 1945 only. With very little to go on, Brian Trout used all of his great sleuthing skills to track them down one by one until he had them all. Amazingly, 5 of the 8 were still alive!

But there was one case that always looked to be the most difficult of all and it was no surprise that he was the last man to be located. This was F G Jones, who played for us in 1963 including the Grand Final. Known as Geoff, all we knew about him was that he was recruited from Hawthorn’s reserve side but Hawthorn were unable to assist with any information. Some of his teammates recalled that he was a teacher and were reasonably confident that he had taught at Prince Alfred College in 1963 but initial enquiries to PAC bore no fruit. After trying many different avenues within the teaching profession, a chance conversation with Ray Trenorden reinforced that he did indeed teach at PAC. Further enquiries with PAC confirmed this fact and also that he returned to Melbourne to teach at Wesley College in 1964. This seemed a promising lead until we discovered that Wesley College had lost all of their records in a fire in 1989 and could only confirm that an F G Jones had taught there in the 1960s!

We had tried using Google to search for Geoff Jones without success (there are rather a lot of them!) but with seemingly nowhere else to turn, had the thought to try F Geoffrey Jones. This revealed that a person by that name had written a book about geography skills with C D Ollier in 1983 and co-authored a paper with J Dekkers in 1989 about distance education. Fortunately both Ollier and Dekkers were very easy to locate and we were able to glean several key pieces of information which all but confirmed that he was the person we were seeking and also provided other clues. Chief amongst these was that he had lived at Glen Iris in Melbourne in the 1990s. We were then able to look at Victorian electoral rolls for that period which provided us with his first name (Frank) and the fact that he had lived at that Glen Iris address from at least 1991 to 1999. Googling the address revealed that it had been sold in 2005. We managed to locate the agent who had sold that home and he was extremely helpful. He remembered that Geoff had moved to a property near Armidale and was able to provide a phone number. Of course the number was disconnected but we were able to consult the 2008 electoral roll in the State Library and found a Frank Geoffrey Jones living at Wollomombi, a tiny town about 40 km from Armidale. A phone call to the local store at Wollomombi revealed that Geoff now lived at a different address in Wollomombi which he provided. However, he couldn’t supply a phone number so there was a final agonising period while we waited for Geoff to respond to a letter.

We are pleased to say that Geoff was delighted to be remembered and is keen to visit our club again, hopefully next year. He now holds another special place in our history!

PAST PLAYERS FROM 1945

Surname

Other Names

Deceased Flag

Debut Year

Final Year

Aamodt

Colin Ernest

*

1940

1950

Ackland

Cain Jed

2009

2011

Ah Chee

Paul Gregory

1977

1981

Aldenhoven

Alan

*

1949

1958

Algate

Douglas Bryce

1976

1981

Allan

James Robert

2007

2012

Allan

Nigel Stuart

1994

1995

Alleway

Clinton James

2006

2012

Allocca

David John

2003

2003

Altman

Christopher John

1970

1970

Anderson

Brenton John

1973

1976

Anderson

Peter David

1964

1971

Anstey

Ian Neville

1966

1969

Antrobus

Anthony John

1981

1986

Arbon

Douglas Grant

1960

1960

Arbon

Oliver Maurice

*

1945

1950

Archard

Rhys Cameron

2008

2010

Archer

Daniel John

2013

2013

Armfield

Michael James

1982

1988

Armstrong

Benjamin Scott

1993

1997

Armstrong

Dale Terrance

2011

2013

Armstrong

Tony Patrick

2009

2011

Arnold

Paul Gregory

1980

1989

Ashby

Graham Edward Mayfield

1962

1964

Askin

Geoffrey Richard

*

1955

1955

Atkinson

Brodie Jay

1990

1995

Atkinson

Donald Walter

*

1958

1958

Backwell

Brett William

2011

2012

Bamford

Barry Maxwell

1966

1972

Bamford

Scott Maxwell

1993

2007

Barbary

Barrie

1955

1964

Barbary

Simeon Harold

*

1946

1948

Barnes

Ronald David

1947

1948

Barr

Jeffrey John

1970

1970

Barr

Kevin Sydney

1963

1972

Barratt

Steven Craige

1988

1993

Baruzzi

John Charles

1975

1979

Bates

Brian Lewis

*

1947

1947

Baxter

Ty Anthony

1993

1993

Beaton

Arthur Angus

*

1949

1949

Beeching

Jack Maxwell Keith

*

1946

1951

Bennett

Cameron Leighton

1993

1993

Bennett

James Peter

2010

2012

Bennett

Peter Robert

1983

1995

Bennetts

Lionel Gordon

*

1938

1947

Bentley

James Winston

1963

1963

Bevan

Jeffrey Lawrence

1971

1972

Bilucaglia

Michael Scott

1992

1992

Blackman

Donald Oliver

1961

1961

Blair

Jason Andrew

1989

1992

Blee

Nathan Patrick

2012

2013

Bloch

Frederick Archibald

1961

1967

Blunden

John Vincent

1949

1958

Blunden

Peter John

*

1950

1954

Blunden

William Gerald

1955

1959

Boles

Jamie Phillip

1985

1985

Bolton

Frederick Henry William

*

1946

1949

Bond

Ashley Nathan

*

1990

1990

Boras

Johnny

2010

2013

Bottroff

Peter Jeffrey

1960

1965

Boucaut

Arthur Penn

*

1939

1945

Bound

Terrance John

1979

1980

Boyley

Desmond Victor

1965

1966

Bradshaw

Malcolm William

1946

1946

Bradtke

Robert Hartley

1964

1970

Brakenridge

Darren Clark

2003

2003

Braunack

David Ross

*

1962

1968

Brealey

John Keith

1982

1988

Brice

John Clifford

*

1957

1957

Broad

Shayne Michael

2001

2003

Brodhurst

Robert David

2000

2001

Brooks

Barry Frank

2002

2002

Brown

Maxwell Richard John

1954

1958

Brown

Nathan Jamie

2009

2009

Brown

Tarquin Adriarn

2008

2008

Bryan

Peter Kaye

*

1952

1953

Bubner

John Leonard

1957

1962

Bunn

Phillip Desmond

1984

1985

Bunton

Haydn Austin

1954

1956

Burford

Michael Craig

1998

2008

Burns

David Kenneth

1968

1974

Burns

Edwin Michael

1968

1971

Burrett

Eric Henry

1945

1946

Burrows

Craig Robert

1998

1998

Burton

Alan George

*

1935

1947

Burton

Craig Matthew

1987

1992

Burton

Darren Wayne

2003

2003

Busbridge

Kevin Ashley

1979

1979

Bussenschutt

Robert Owen

1964

1966

Byerlee

Aaron Brenton

1997

2001

Byers

Alan Edwin

1964

1969

Cameron

Jason Andrew

2000

2000

Cameron

Peter James

1985

1985

Campbell

Joel Nathan

2005

2007

Campbell

Matthew Peter

1983

1986

Carberry

Matthew Robert

1997

1998

Carey

Kevin Fredrick

1985

1985

Carlaw

Roger David

1985

1991

Carlson

Ronald Allan

*

1952

1955

Carroll

Keith William

*

1949

1955

Carroll

Raymond Charles

1954

1961

Carroll

William Francis

1977

1978

Carter

Kenneth Edward

*

1956

1958

Carter

Lawrence George

*

1945

1946

Casey

Benjamin John

1997

2002

Cash

Gerald Denis

1999

1999

Casserly

Justin Paul

2002

2003

Cearns

David John

1964

1970

Cearns

John Denis

*

1941

1947

Chapman

Wade Peter

2000

2000

Cheek

Alan Roy

*

1958

1962

Clarke

David Andrew

2008

2009

Clarke

John Desmond

1946

1946

Clift

Roger Jeffrey

1985

1986

Clisby

Mitchell Andrew

2010

2012

Clisby

Trevor Ian

1980

1991

Cloke

Peter Bruce

1975

1981

Codd

Michael Henry

1960

1961

Cole

David Anthony

1983

1983

Coleman

Kevin Francis

1966

1967

Collins

Matthew Ray

1995

1997

Collins

Terrence Andrew

1971

1974

Conder

Dean Richard

1974

1981

Connors

Eljay Luke

2010

2012

Constable

Brian Michael

*

1955

1957

Cook

Timothy Michael

2001

2005

Coppins

James Reginald

1963

1971

Cornelius

Gerald Varoka

2001

2002

Coulls

Brian Helston

1947

1950

Coulter

Joshua Andrew

2005

2008

Coward

Robert Lloyd

*

1945

1945

Cowham

Simon Robert

1987

1987

Cox

Darcy Burnard

1946

1952

Cox

Simon David

2006

2006

Crago

Reginald Allen

*

1945

1945

Craig

Ian Huddlestone

1961

1963

Craig

Neil Passmore

1988

1990

Cronin

James

*

1955

1956

Crouch

Frank Stephen

*

1947

1953

Crouch

Ivan John

1975

1977

Crow

John Lewis

*

1962

1962

Cubillo

Joshua Gregory

2006

2007

Cunningham

Damian Sean

2007

2011

Cunningham

Leslie Thomas

*

1950

1952

Currie

Daniel Thomas

2012

2012

Davey

Luke William

2012

2012

Davis

Chad Allan

2003

2003

Davis

Philip James

2009

2010

Davis

Timothy Patrick

1997

2001

Delvins

Timothy James

2005

2013

Dempsey

Dylan James

2010

2011

Dew

Brian John

1964

1964

Dietrich

Grenville Ellis

1982

1986

Dillon

Kym Robert

1978

1980

Diorio

Michael John

1978

1979

Diorio

Robert

1976

1980

Dittmar

Michael Lee

1991

1993

Dixon

Malcolm John

1961

1967

Dixon

Trevor John

1987

1990

Dodman

Jordan Mark

2008

2008

Doherty

Mark John Augustin

1979

1980

Dohnt

Craig Leigh

1979

1979

Donisthorpe

George

1946

1949

Donisthorpe

John

1953

1953

Doszna

Michael George

1976

1981

Down

Matthew Ken

2006

2008

Downie

Mark Leonard

1977

1980

Draper

Frederick George Willis

1941

1945

Ducker

John Robert

1954

1954

Ducker

Murray Edward

1957

1958

Dunn

Joseph Ralph

1954

1956

Dunn

Peter James

1964

1964

Dyett

Gregory Andrew

1992

1993

Dyson

Robert Edward

*

1937

1946

Eatts

Rex Octobious

1974

1977

Eaves

Mark John

1984

1984

Ebel

Raymond Philip

1996

2004

Ebert

Daniel James

1998

2008

Ebert

Ricky Albert

2006

2008

Edmonds

Bernard John

1986

1986

Edmonds

Timothy Mark

1986

1986

Edwards

Barrie Neil

*

1950

1953

Edwards

Bryan Alexander

*

1946

1947

Edwards

Douglas Alan

1956

1957

Edwards

Mark Stephen

1998

2000

Edwards

Shane Nicholas

2006

2006

Egan

Nicholas James

2003

2003

Eichner

Michael John

1971

1977

Elliott

Robert Joseph

*

1938

1946

Ellis

Malcolm John

1978

1985

Elstone

Daniel Timothy

2010

2010

Errington

Kenneth George

*

1947

1947

Faggotter

Alwin Leonard

*

1954

1961

Farley

Shane Adam

1996

1997

Farquhar

Brent James

1974

1974

Farrell

Graeme Stanley

*

1963

1967

Fenton

Brian James

2011

2013

Ferris

Phillip Henry

*

1945

1945

Filmer

John Thomas

1962

1962

Fischer

Kevin Charles

1986

1988

Foote

Darrol Rex

1961

1961

Ford

Peter John

1970

1972

Ford

Robert Michael

*

1972

1974

Forrest

Gary Brian

1958

1962

Forth

Stephen Douglas

1978

1981

Fowden

Paris

1993

2002

Francou

Joshua Alexander

1993

1996

Francou

Kenneth Edward

1970

1974

Francou

Maurice Guy

1964

1971

Fraser

Kane Garry

1999

1999

Frick

John

1975

1975

Fuller

Geoffrey Roy

1951

1956

Furber

Harry James

1971

1971

Gallagher

John Martin

1985

1985

Galloway

Alan Playford

1947

1953

Gambling

Brian Erichsen

1958

1962

Garnett

Keith Reginald

*

1951

1952

Gatto

Shaun David

2004

2007

Gehling

Bruce Douglas

1978

1978

Gehling

Russell Paul

1979

1984

Geisler

Robert Roy

1962

1969

George

Mark Scott

2003

2003

Gerke

Richard Herbert Edward

1992

1998

Gilbourne

Donald Harold Albert

1949

1962

Gilbourne

Robert James

1961

1965

Gilham

Stephen John Christopher

2003

2005

Gill

Nicholas Hunter

2005

2011

Gilmour

Melvyn Bernard

1964

1966

Gluschenko

Travis John

2001

2003

Gniel

Barry Desmond

1971

1971

Gordon

Nathan Hamilton

2013

2013

Graham

Trevor Raymond

1959

1959

Grantham

Daniel Paul

1994

1995

Gray

Alastair Grant Fraser

1994

1995

Greaves

Philip John

1976

1977

Green

Kingsley William

1981

1981

Grenfell

Trevor Paul

1981

1984

Griffin

Lyle Claude

1946

1957

Griffiths

Adam Mathew

1995

1995

Grocke

Adam Carl

2002

2005

Grose

Gavin Ashley

2007

2008

Gum

Garry Neville

1974

1978

Gum

Joshua Dylan

1998

2000

Gum

Tristan Joel

2003

2005

Gutsche

Graham Trevor

1960

1961

Hage

Robert John

*

1956

1956

Hall

John David

*

1948

1950

Hall

Kerren Murray

2012

2012

Hall

Malcolm Leonard

1959

1964

Hambly

Frank Sutherland

1960

1961

Hamilton

Steven Kerry

1988

1993

Hammond

Robert Allen

1960

1973

Hancock

Stanley Gordon

*

1946

1953

Handby

Michael Anthony

2011

2012

Haniford

Samuel Mark

2011

2011

Harby

Francis Lawrence

*

1945

1945

Hargraves

Daniel Alexander

2000

2006

Harris

Daniel

1993

1993

Harris

Richard

1973

1973

Harris

Wilfred John

*

1945

1945

Harrison

Philip James

1983

1983

Hart

Benjamin Martin

1990

2007

Hart

Darel Peter

1984

1994

Hartfield

Brenton William

1979

1980

Harvey

Jarrod Edward

1993

1993

Harvey

John Walter

*

1948

1948

Harvey

Ryan John

1993

1994

Haseldine

Michael David

2005

2006

Haslam

Robert Alexander

1968

1968

Hawke

Hedley John

*

1934

1945

Hay

Steven Robert

1979

1987

Hay

William Gordon

*

1947

1948

Haythorpe

Russell Neil

1996

1996

Heading

Charles Sturt

*

1959

1962

Hearl

Barry Allan

1968

1974

Heath

Nicholas Luke

2005

2005

Henderson

Teghan Kane

2001

2001

Henningsen

Barry Alan

1959

1959

Henningsen

Murray Ernest

1956

1957

Hensel

Edgar Rhodes

*

1948

1948

Hentschke

Bruce Norman

1954

1954

Herbert

Lucas James

1997

2003

Heuskes

Adam John

2004

2005

Hewett

Ronald Keith

*

1953

1962

Hewish

Shane Gavan

1986

1986

Heylen

Lloyd France

*

1946

1946

Hill

David John

2011

2011

Hill

Dudley Clarke

1963

1965

Hill

Leonard Eric

*

1950

1954

Hill

Simon Howard

1989

1996

Hill

Trevor John

1974

1986

Hodges

Shane Clement

1993

1998

Hoekman

Jan Pieter

1975

1980

Hogan

Gordon John MacDonald

*

1937

1946

Hogarth

John Stirling

1972

1972

Hoile

Neil David

*

1950

1951

Holland

Benedict Carl William

1995

1995

Holland

Luke Dominick Paul

1996

2001

Holland

Nicholas John

1992

1992

Hollitt

Mark Justin

1994

2000

Holman

Jeffrey Peter

1982

1982

Horne

Michael Leonard John

1992

1992

Hoskins

Raymond Osbert

*

1939

1947

Houston

David Jack

*

1962

1962

Houston

Ian John

1959

1959

Howard

Allan Lindsay

1971

1978

Howard

Dean Robert

2006

2007

Hudson

Benjamin Read

2004

2004

Hughes

Trevor Ernest

1959

1963

Hunter

John Campbell

1955

1956

Huppatz

Brian Albert

1950

1954

Hyam

Robert James

1948

1948

Inglis

Stephen Douglas

1982

1983

Ivens

Luke

2001

2013

Jamar

Mark Anthony

2001

2001

James

Paul Marden

2002

2003

James

Richard How

1957

1959

Jantke

Ronald George

*

1966

1966

Jarman

Andrew Newton

1983

1989

Jarman

Darren Robert

1985

1990

Jaworskyj

Bohdan

1965

1978

Jeffrey

Joseph Glen

2001

2001

Jeffries

Mark Andrew

1993

2005

Johnson

Darren James

1991

1991

Johnson

Keith Henry

*

1945

1945

Johnston

Geoffrey Ronald

1965

1968

Johnston

Graham David

1956

1961

Johnston

Lewis Taylor

2012

2013

Jones

Frank Geoffrey

1963

1963

Jones

Robert Leslie

1959

1962

Jorgensen

Simon Christian

1991

1991

Kaesler

Tate Scott

2003

2007

Kavanagh

Gregory Thomas

1989

1989

Keane

Jack

1945

1945

Keller

Jake Nicholas

2010

2013

Kellett

Graeme John

1997

2005

Kemp

Mark John

1984

1984

Kennedy

Ronald James

1947

1948

Kennett

Paul

*

1948

1954

Kent

Barry John

*

1959

1964

Kerley

Stephen Gordon

1981

1982

King

Jason Scott

1997

1999

King

Terence Roy

*

1949

1949

Kinnane

Allan William

1960

1960

Kirk

Malcolm Leigh

1974

1978

Klomp

Kim

1982

1992

Knowles

Brett Jeffrey

2002

2002

Knowles

Martyn Carey

1965

1965

Knuckey

Donald Leslie

1958

1964

Koehne

Robert Alexander

1966

1970

Koerner

Peter John

1958

1959

Koops

Steven John

2006

2006

Krieg

Matthew Adam

2005

2008

Krieg

Peter Anthony

1991

1993

Kroehn

Ian John

1975

1976

Kupsch

David John

1988

1990

Kurzel

Nicholas Mark

2001

2007

Ladhams

Christopher John

1997

2008

Lahey

Douglas Bruce

1958

1958

Lamond

Stuart John

2001

2001

Lang

Ian Grant

1988

1988

Langford

Thomas William

2013

2013

Leal

Scott Anthony

1999

2003

Lee

Andrew Dwayne

2011

2011

Lee

Raymond

*

1958

1958

Lehmann

Henry Ross

*

1941

1947

Lehmann

Kym Vincent

1964

1974

Lehmann

Troy Scott

1989

1999

Leske

Gavin James

1980

1980

Lindner

Donald

*

1954

1970

Lindner

Theodore Paul

1959

1967

Linke

Allan Raymond

1955

1956

Liston

Jake Steven

2012

2012

Little

Brendan Patrick

1982

1983

Lofts

Gregory Ivan

1976

1978

Logan

Brendon John

1996

1996

Lokan

Raymond George

*

1941

1946

Lokan

William John Frederick

1979

1982

Longman

Barry Ronald

1964

1964

Longman

Simon Leigh

1993

1993

Lonie

Nathan Emery

2006

2008

Lounder

Phillip Andrew

1994

1995

Lovie

Kevin McPherson

1974

1974

Lowry

Daryl Roy

1975

1975

Lush

Leonard Ross

*

1938

1946

Lyall

William Thomas

1989

1989

Lynch

Brian Basil

*

1955

1959

Lynch

Jacob Francis

1999

1999

Macgowan

Rick Ian

2004

2004

MacKenzie

Hubert

*

1950

1953

MacKenzie

Thomas Geoffrey

*

1947

1949

Mail

Joshua Michael

1991

2001

Makins

Zac Taylor

2012

2012

Maksimovic

Petar

1981

1981

Maloney

Malcolm Jagamarra

1973

1973

Mancini

Brett Mathew

1992

1996

Marsh

David Wayne

1972

1977

Marsh

Neville Ross

1959

1959

Marshall

Marc

1990

1998

Martin

Allan John

1951

1951

Martin

Garth Campbell

*

1941

1946

Martin

Maurice Owen

1962

1966

Martin

Owen

*

1934

1946

Martin

Thomas Patrick

1999

1999

Martin

Timothy John

2006

2007

Mason

Henry John

2011

2011

Mason

James John

1983

1985

Massey

Duane Linden

1990

1990

May

John James

1969

1972

May

Peter John

1963

1967

Mayes

Sam

2011

2012

Mazzini

Alan

1988

1988

McAdam

Adrian John

1990

1991

McAdam

Gregory James

1977

1983

McAinsh

Robert John

*

1954

1954

McCague

Martin John

1990

1990

McCann

Neil Arthur

1950

1959

McCann

Patrick Joseph

1974

1978

McCarthy

Damien Bruce

1992

1996

McClure

Trevor John

1989

1989

McCorkell

Leigh William

1994

1994

McDermott

Christopher Stephen

1997

1997

McEntee

James Gregory

2002

2005

McEntee

Luke Thomas

2009

2009

McGahey

Ryan Scott

1999

2008

McInnes

Arthur Robert

1974

1977

McIntyre

Andrew Colin

2006

2011

McKay

Ian Lawson

*

1946

1955

McKenzie

William Leslie

1950

1957

McLean

Kane James

2003

2003

McLean

Wade Kym

2003

2005

McNamara

John Michael

1994

1994

Melville

Robert Charles

*

1945

1945

Melvin

Lisle Kingsley

*

1940

1946

Millar

Zachary Shane

2006

2009

Mills

Lindsay Clarence

*

1940

1946

Millsteed

Stirling Rex

1953

1954

Mitchell

Robert John

1963

1965

Mitchinson

George Leslie

*

1946

1946

Mjaskalo

Michael

1990

1990

Molloy

Christopher Richard

1992

1993

Molloy

Stephen Neil

1981

1985

Monaghan

Richard Peter Henry

1984

1984

Monfries

Austin Baker

2003

2003

Montgomery

Malcolm George

1960

1962

Moon

Lawrence

1966

1966

Moore

Andrew James

2010

2013

Morcom

Robert Nesbit

1971

1971

Morgan

Adam David

2000

2003

Moritz

Andrew Keith

2000

2004

Morse

William George

1946

1946

Morton

Daniel Peter

1992

2000

Morton

Lance Culley

1973

1974

Motlop

Aaron Maurice

2007

2007

Motlop

Daniel Mark

2000

2011

Motlop

Marlon Albert

2008

2011

Motlop

Shannon Edward

1998

2008

Mueller

Vernon Keith

1954

1954

Mugge

Barrie Carl

1959

1959

Mullen

Bruce George

1953

1955

Muller

Kenton Lowe

1974

1978

Mullins

John Trevor

1960

1961

Mumford

Bob Geoffrey

1948

1948

Mumford

Bronte Sidney

1972

1979

Munro

Justin Hugh

1993

1993

Murch

Denis Colin

*

1963

1966

Mustaca

Domenic Anthony

1981

1981

Myles

Leslie John

1975

1980

Naish

Christopher Francis

1998

1999

Natoli

Mauriceo Carlo

1989

1989

Neve

Daniel Kenneth

1978

1978

Newberry

Joshua Adam

1998

2001

Nichol

Benjamin Jake

1998

2000

Nichols

Bruce Alexander

*

1947

1948

Norton

Blake Aaron

1994

1994

Norton

Geoffrey Ronald

1968

1972

Norton

Howard Charles McKinnon

*

1941

1945

Nunan

Michael Allen

1980

1981

Nunan

Timothy Allen

1991

1998

Nye

Ryan Joseph

2005

2006

Oakley

Travis Glen

2003

2005

O'Brien

Rory Joseph

2008

2008

O'Brien

Thomas Henry

*

1947

1947

O'Connor

Ryan Patrick

2003

2003

O'Dea

Francis John

*

1946

1946

Odgers

Allen James

*

1948

1953

O'Hara

Brett

2006

2010

Olds

Frank

*

1945

1945

O'Leary

Francis Benedict

*

1945

1949

O'Loughlin

Daniel Joseph

1997

1997

O'Shannassy

Robert Martin

1970

1974

O'Sullivan

Chad Everitt Russell

2013

2014

Owens

David James

1982

1983

Page

John Leslie

1963

1966

Palmer

Russell Leslie

1977

1980

Palmer

Stanley Edward

*

1960

1960

Parker

Brendon Patrick

1995

1999

Parker

Maxwell Sam

1988

1988

Parslow

Richard Norman

*

1945

1945

Parsons

Michael Wayne

*

1983

1992

Pascoe

Barry George

*

1964

1965

Pascoe

Robert Henry

1959

1963

Pash

Jeffrie Herbert

*

1938

1949

Pash

Ronald Elliot

*

1945

1945

Pastro

Craig Anthony

1993

1993

Patterson

Michael Forster

*

1970

1973

Paull

Geoffrey Ross

1960

1972

Paxman

Stephen Mark

2002

2002

Payne

Charles James

1973

1976

Payne

John Leslie

1970

1971

Pech

Stephen Michael

1997

2000

Pedersen

Lionel John

*

1945

1948

Pedler

Lenard James

*

1947

1949

Peel

Luke Francis

2004

2004

Pelle

Christopher Ross

1977

1982

Perkins

Brian James

*

1945

1945

Perkins

Timothy Roy

1990

1996

Perrie

Ian Michael

2004

2007

Perry

Devan Todd

1993

1993

Peterson

Scott Keith

2002

2002

Peucker

Simon Neil

1994

2001

Pfeiffer

Todd James

2006

2011

Phillips

Brenton Paul

1981

1998

Phillips

Horace Ronald

*

1940

1953

Phillips

John Edward

*

1962

1974

Platten

Jonathan Leigh

2010

2010

Plummer

John Caleb George

1969

1977

Pohlner

Malcolm John

1997

1999

Pollock

Steven Douglas

2010

2010

Pope

Craig Garry

1998

1999

Porter

John Reginald

1959

1965

Post

Frank Frederick

1947

1948

Potts

Barry John

1958

1963

Potts

Simon Leigh

2010

2010

Power

John Hartley

1961

1965

Power

Michael David

1945

1945

Poynton

Michael John

1985

1986

Price

Joel Matthew

2002

2002

Priest

Donald Eric

*

1945

1948

Prosser

Simon Leigh

1989

1990

Proud

Robert Edward

*

1950

1956

Rack

Josef Wilhelm

1990

1990

Radetti

Tyson

2001

2004

Ramsay

David James

1973

1973

Ranger

Bruce Alexander

*

1945

1945

Rebbeck

Adrian Leslie

1971

1974

Redden

Michael John

1978

1993

Reeves

Darren Jay

1988

1991

Renner

Herbert Paul Vincent

1945

1945

Renner

Johannes Martin Basil

1951

1952

Renshaw

Braedon Charles

2011

2011

Reynolds

Lincoln William

1999

1999

Rhigas

Paul

1987

1987

Richards

Gregory Dean

1975

1975

Riley

John Leslie

1977

1990

Riley

Stephen George

1982

1992

Rimmer

Robert James

*

1941

1946

Rivers

Jared Peter

2001

2002

Rix

Clarence Charles

*

1937

1946

Roach

Anthony Robert

1975

1983

Roach

Graeme Andrew

*

1970

1970

Roberts

Cameron John

1996

2001

Roberts

John Peter

1987

1988

Roberts

Todd Mathew

1994

1994

Robertson

Benjamin James

1995

1996

Robertson

Christopher John

1997

2000

Robertson

David Andrew

1981

1996

Robertson

Ian Dean

1962

1962

Robins

Darren Brett

1982

1982

Robinson

Walter John

1965

1975

Robran

Barrie Charles

1967

1980

Robran

Rodney John

1970

1982

Roe

Jason Alfred Cassius

2004

2005

Roe

Jason Edward

1987

1991

Rogerson

Ralph George

1956

1958

Rohde

Callum

2003

2004

Rosenboom

Wayne Robert

1994

1998

Russell

Dennis Gordon

1978

1978

Russell

John Edward

*

1948

1948

Russell

Trevor Wayne

1982

1982

Ryan

Bradley William

1988

1992

Ryan

Daniel Michael

1993

1993

Ryan

Garry John

1964

1968

Rynne

Paul Andrew

1986

1986

Sachse

Dennis Edwin

1967

1975

Sachse

John William

1974

1978

Sachse

Neil Frederick

1970

1974

Saliba

Adam Paul

1990

1992

Sanders

David Jeffrey

1982

1996

Sandery

John Lewis

1945

1945

Sandery

Leslie John

1974

1976

Sandford

Glenn Francis Robert

1995

1998

Sandland

John Stewart

*

1975

1976

Sargent

Malcolm John

*

1958

1959

Saul

Ronald Edgar

*

1947

1947

Saunders

Rodney Glen

1990

1997

Savage

Andrew James

1991

1993

Scaglia

Robert John

1975

1976

Schlein

Gregory Allen

1975

1981

Schmidt

Gregory Edward

1975

1981

Schubert

Richard John

1972

1975

Schubert

Shane Michael

2006

2008

Schultz

Glennon Charles Roy

*

1948

1948

Schulz

Paul Hasting

1971

1971

Schulz

Peter Maurice

1971

1974

Schwarze

Benjamin Charles

2009

2009

Scott

Stuart Reginald

1975

1975

Searle

Rudall Hesseldine

*

1945

1945

Secker

Kenneth Maxwell

1963

1963

Setchell

Benjamin Jay

1999

2001

Shaw

Mervyn Barrey

*

1946

1946

Shee

Christopher Anthony Jean

2003

2005

Shepherdson

Colin Henry

1957

1957

Sheppard

Peter David

*

1954

1963

Sheridan

Michael Francis

1962

1967

Simmons

Peter William

1984

1992

Simmons

Stanley Craig

1959

1961

Simpson

Kevin Matthew

1990

1990

Sims

Steven John

1987

1992

Slattery

Wayne Neville

1987

1987

Sloane

Rory Brandon

2009

2010

Smart

Douglas Charles

1986

1989

Smith

Adam Robert

1992

1992

Smith

Gregory Powell

1976

1977

Smith

Mervyn Laurence

*

1945

1945

Smith

Peter John

1997

1998

Smith

Robert Douglas

1967

1968

Smyth

Robert Walter

1956

1957

Snowden

Ashley Keith

1996

1997

Soderstrom

Mark Warren Kenneth

1992

1995

Sowter

Alfred George

1950

1951

Speck

Barry John

1967

1969

Spehr

Luke Nathan

*

1998

1998

Spencer

Lionel Charles

*

1945

1945

Sporn

Garry Hedley

1971

1974

Sporn

Peter Grant

1975

1978

Sporn

Trent Peter

2000

2009

Spry

John Gregory

1972

1973

Squire

Damian Troy

1991

1998

Stacey

Christopher James

1988

1988

Stanbridge

Craig

1980

1983

Stanbridge

Leigh

1981

1983

Staples

Cameron Jon

2002

2004

Starke

Joshua Luke

2008

2008

Starr

William Leonard

*

1954

1954

Stevens

Charles John

1955

1955

Stevens

Scott James

1999

2000

Stewart

Brian Gordon

1965

1966

Stewart

Daniel Byron

2008

2013

Stone

Todd Patrick

1989

1990

Stone

Trevor James

1957

1957

Strang

Geoffrey Robert

*

1972

1974

Stribling

Toby Lee

2003

2010

Stringer

Alan Lyall

1981

1982

Stringer

Allan Dean

1949

1958

Stringer

Barry Michael

*

1971

1981

Stringer

Kelvin Charles

*

1964

1970

Stringer

Wayne Ian

1975

1982

Strudwick

David Charles

*

1956

1957

Sutherland

Scott Martin

1996

2004

Sutter

Adrian John

1962

1968

Swann

Timothy James

1996

2001

Tanner

Colin William

*

1951

1958

Tapscott

Luke Dylan

2009

2009

Tasker

Sean James

1988

1996

Tate

John Donovan

1959

1959

Taylor

Brian John

1958

1960

Taylor

Bruce

*

1952

1952

Taylor

Harold Edward

*

1941

1947

Taylor

Robert Bruce

*

1962

1969

Taylor

Ronald Jack

*

1945

1945

Thomas

Brian William

*

1960

1966

Thomas

Maxwell Leonard

*

1946

1948

Thompson

Kriston Mervyn

2008

2013

Thompson

Wade Anthony Douglas

2008

2010

Thomson

Christian Ashley

1986

1986

Thredgold

Christopher John

1990

1990

Thurbon

Glen Denis

1990

1990

Tidswell

John Walter Edward

1949

1958

Tiller

David Scott

1977

1990

Timms

John Gerrard

1988

1988

Tocaciu

Patrick Cornel

*

1977

1979

Toia

Luke Ronald

2005

2005

Trenorden

Rabone Charles

1957

1966

Trenorden

Simon Craig

1985

1992

Trenorden

Walter James

1954

1954

Trickett

Fred

1948

1948

Trigg

Steven Gary

1987

1987

Trzesinski

Adam

2000

2003

Tuckey

Ian Lancelot

1973

1975

Tuckey

Lancelot Arnold

1947

1949

Turner

Darren James

1995

1996

Turner

Jason Paul

1987

1987

Turner

Lesley Raymond

1982

1982

Turner

Peter Anthony

1990

1994

Tyrell

Luke

2002

2002

Vanzetta

Darren John

1990

1990

Vaughan

John Dennis

*

1950

1956

Veal

Laurence

*

1945

1947

Viney

Jay Wesley

1995

1999

Viney

Ryan John

1999

2002

Vivian

Kym James

2000

2000

Volbrecht

Stanley William

1955

1955

von Bertouch

Terry Carl

1967

1974

Wake

Gary Ronald

1970

1971

Wakelin

Daniel Rex

2004

2008

Walker

Gordon James

1972

1974

Walker

Kingsley James

2006

2008

Wallis

John David

1947

1947

Wallis

Patrick John

*

1941

1946

Walsh

Colin James

*

1950

1950

Walsh

Daniel John

1994

1999

Walsh

Peter Vernon

1976

1977

Walter

Eric John

*

1954

1954

Walton

Benjamin John

2004

2004

Ward

Daniel Stephen

2008

2008

Ward

Eric Robert

*

1945

1945

Wardle

James Thomas

2003

2003

Warner

Bradley Graham

1994

1999

Watherston

Brett

1995

1996

Way

Mervyn Peter

1952

1955

Weatherley

Owen Walker

2006

2007

Webb

Darryl Raymond

1968

1974

Webster

Mark David

1982

1982

Wellman

Sean David

1991

1994

West

Donald Anzac

*

1938

1947

Westbrook

Lewis Rodney

1973

1973

Westhoff

Matthew Scott

2013

2013

Westley

Malcolm John

1955

1960

Weston

Lloyd Cranwell

1951

1957

White

Alan Raymond

1961

1961

White

Brett Aaron

2002

2008

White

Damon Lance

2002

2010

White

Henry William

2010

2011

White

Ian Lancell

1984

1988

White

Lance Vincent

1982

1982

White

Lucas Brian

2000

2000

White

Travis Leigh

1998

2000

Whitelaw

Martin Lee

2001

2001

Whitford

Malcolm John

1956

1962

Whyman

Djaran Jack

2009

2010

Wildy

David Lachlan

1980

1988

Wilkey

Archibald Cyril

*

1966

1973

Wilkinson

Anthony Edward

1965

1967

Williams

Christopher Robert

1989

1989

Willsmore

Ian Paterson

1978

1981

Wilson

Paul Richard John

1988

1988

Wintle

Darryl Scott

1993

2008

Wise

Daniel John

2005

2005

Woolford

Darren James

1993

1997

Woolford

Joseph Rex

*

1945

1946

Woore

John William

1958

1959

Wright

Matthew James

2007

2013

Wright

Michael John

1985

1985

Wundke

James Andrew

2010

2010

Wundke

Michael Robert

2007

2010

Yard

Laurence

1947

1948

Yates

Barry Kimber

1954

1959

Young

Aaron Paul

2011

2012

Younie

Heath Kane

2001

2010

Zeuner

Douglas George

1974

1975

Zoontjens

Paul Cornelius

1982

1986

PAST PLAYERS

PHOTO GALLERY

Check out all the photos from the previous past Players functions held on match days at the Club.
Photos thanks to History Committee member Daryl Thomas.
(more coming soon)

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HONOURING THOSE WHO SERVED

The Club wishes to acknowledge the sacrifices made by all men and women who served in armed conflict for Australia. To see a list of men who played League football for North Adelaide and served in WW1 and/or WW2, click on the links below.

WE THANK OUR PARTNERS

The North Adelaide Football Club acknowledges the support from our sponsors and partners and encourages all members to show their support for the companies that contribute to the club.

North Adelaide Football Club 2017 Major Partner

​

A South Australian owned company that has been proudly servicing the Adelaide business community for the past 30 years as Toshiba’s exclusive provider of Copiers, Printers, MFD’s and Software solutions.